HM Treasury

Television: Licensing

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to the BBC of maintaining free television licences for people over 75 for the remainder of the current Parliament.

Greg Hands: Table 2.2 in Budget 2016 shows the savings to the Exchequer of the BBC taking on the cost of the over-75s TV licence concession which is phased in over the period 2018-19 to 2020-21.

Children: Day Care

Craig Williams: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to paragraph 6.9 of the Childcare and early years survey of parents 2014-15, what progress HM Revenue and Customs is making in raising awareness of the tax-free childcare scheme.

Damian Hinds: The Government will publicise the scheme in good time ahead of its introduction through a range of digital and non-digital channels. HM Revenue and Customs will also work with the childcare industry and representative groups who interact regularly with parents to raise awareness of the scheme.

Children: Day Care

Craig Williams: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government's review of Atos contracts will affect the preparations for the launch of tax-free childcare.

Damian Hinds: We do not anticipate that the review of Atos contracts will affect the preparations for the launch of Tax-Free Childcare. The Cabinet Office will write to the PAC summarising the findings of the review and it will be completed in summer 2016.

Children: Day Care

Craig Williams: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, on what dates in 2017 tax-free childcare is planned to be made available to children aged (a) 0-2, (b) 3-4, (c) 5-6, (d) 7-8, (e) 9-10 and (f) 11-12 years.

Damian Hinds: Tax-Free Childcare will be launched from early 2017. To roll out the scheme in a safe and managed way, we will be gradually opening up the scheme to all eligible parents within 12 months. We will provide further details of the exact plans for this rollout in due course and in good time for parents and childcare providers to prepare for the introduction of Tax-Free Childcare.

Tax Evasion

Tulip Siddiq: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the contribution of the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on 13 April 2016, Official Report, column 374, how many (a) cases of offshore tax evasion were investigated by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and (b) individuals were subject to criminal investigation for offshore tax evasion by HMRC in each year since 2009-10.

Mr David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) undertakes a broad range of civil compliance activity to tackle offshore tax evasion. No definitive year by year assessment of the total number of HMRC investigations applying civil sanctions is recorded. Over 1,100 cases of offshore evasion are currently under investigation, with more than 90 individuals currently being investigated for offshore offences.

Treasury: Hotels

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of hotel bookings his Department made for (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials in each of the last five years.

Harriett Baldwin: Information on hotel spend for Ministers is publically available on gov.uk as part of the Transparency agenda. The information is published quarterly and is up to date for quarter 3 of financial year 2015-16 and can be found at the following web link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-ministers-meetings-hospitality-gifts-and-overseas-travel

Children: Maintenance

Caroline Lucas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what procedures are in place to ensure that when a receiving parent has been advised by the Child Maintenance Service to contact HM Revenue and Customs to report possible tax evasion by a paying parent that possible evasion is investigated to ensure levels of child maintenance reflects full income.

Caroline Lucas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will establish an investigation unit within HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to deal with cases in which the receiving parent has been advised by the Child Maintenance Service to contact HMRC to report possible tax evasion by the paying parent.

Mr David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) works closely with the Child Maintenance Service as well as other Government Departments to ensure that all allegations of tax evasion from members of the public are assessed, dealt with appropriately and a decision made on the most appropriate course of action. HMRC values the information they receive from the public and business community. Clamping down on those who try to cheat the system through evading taxes and over claiming benefits is a key priority for the Government and we are committed to ensuring the tax system operates fairly and efficiently. Any information received is passed on to HMRC’s Enforcement and Compliance teams. This can result in recovery of funds, education to help support compliance civil or criminal action depending on the severity of the evasion. More serious cases can result in prosecution action by HMRC’s Fraud Investigation Service

Welfare Tax Credits

Paul Blomfield: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many enquiries have been made by hon. Members to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) on tax credits claims in the last 12 months; and what the average time taken was for HMRC to respond to those enquiries.

Damian Hinds: HMRC receives enquiries from Hon Members about tax credit awards in a number of different ways. HMRC seeks to answer every one as a high priority. No comprehensive figures are held for the time taken to answer all enquiries.

Individual Savings Accounts

Rachel Reeves: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 11 May 2016 to Question 36241, what assumptions were made about the number of people (a) taking up a Lifetime ISA and (b) subscribing the maximum annual amount to an ordinary ISA in calculating the estimated Exchequer impacts set out in that Answer.

Mr David Gauke: The Lifetime ISA is a voluntary product. For further information on the costing of this policy, please see page 9 of the Budget 2015 Policy Costings document: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508147/PU1912_Policy_Costings_FINAL3.pdf ISA statistics are published on the GOV.UK website. Table 9.7 sets out the number of individuals subscribing to ISAs by income and amount subscribed: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/number-of-individuals-subscribing-to-an-individual-savings-account-isa-by-income.

Supply Teachers: Tax Allowances

Dan Jarvis: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on supply teachers of new restrictions on tax relief for travel and subsistence expenses for workers engaged through an employment intermediary.

Mr David Gauke: The changes to tax relief for travel and subsistence only affect those who work through an employment intermediary. The planned changes will put supply teachers employed through an intermediary on the same terms as other supply teachers, either contracted directly, or through an agency contract. The Government’s general assessment of the effects of the measure can be found in the Tax Information and Impact Note: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/income-tax-employment-intermediaries-and-relief-for-travel-and-subsistence/income-tax-employment-intermediaries-and-relief-for-travel-and-subsistence The Government undertook detailed consultation on these proposals. Further assessment can be found in the summary of responses to the consultation document published on this change: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/483389/Employment_Intermediaries_and_Tax_Relief_for_Travel_and_Subsistence_-_Summary_of_Responses__M7057_.pdf

Mossack Fonseca

Stewart Malcolm McDonald: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations his Department have received from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on the list of addresses of British entities registered with the Mossack Fonseca law firm in Panama published by the ICIJ on their website on 9 May 2016.

Mr David Gauke: We welcome the statement from the source of the Panama Papers that they are willing to speak to law enforcement bodies. Tax evasion and money laundering are global issues, which is why the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and National Crime Agency (NCA) taskforce is working with international tax and law enforcement partners to take up this offer, and develop as many leads as possible from the data that is currently available. HMRC has been in regular contact with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), who have refused to share their full data with HMRC, stating that their policy is not to hand over such material. While we welcome the steps the ICIJ has taken in exposing this issue, its decision not to release the full set of information is disappointing. HMRC has begun analytical work on all the data published by the ICIJ, in addition to a wide range of other intelligence. As a result of this, the HMRC and NCA taskforce has opened a number of detailed and forensic enquiries.

National Savings and Investments: India

Chris Stephens: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) number, (b) current responsibilities and (c) current locations are of the roles which National Savings and Investment plans to move to Chennai.

Harriett Baldwin: NS&I has no current plans to move roles it has in the UK to Chennai.

Revenue and Customs: Bradford

Judith Cummins: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the business case on the closure of the HM Revenue and Customs offices in Bradford.

Mr David Gauke: HM Revenue and Customs has based its decisions on the locations of the future regional centres on a number of key principles including retention of its current staff and skills, access to a pipeline of talent and local and national transport links. In this context it will be locating its Regional Centre for Yorkshire and the Humber in Leeds.

Occupational Pensions: EU Law

Barry Gardiner: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department has had with other government departments on building greater consideration and transparency of climate risk for pension funds into Articles 20, 26 and 32 of the EU's revised Directive on Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision.

Barry Gardiner: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential implications of the revised EU Directive on Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provisions for lowering the exposure of pension fund savers to climate change-related financial risk.

Barry Gardiner: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the Government's priorities are for the negotiations on the revised EU Directive on Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provisions.

Mr David Gauke: The Government’s priority for the draft Directive is ensuring sound and proportionate regulation of occupational pension schemes, which respects differences in the national arrangements between Member States. As is usual practice, an overall impact assessment for the draft Directive has been prepared by the EU institutions, and a national-level impact assessment will be prepared as and when the Directive is transposed into UK law. The Government has approached negotiations on the Directive in line with the usual co-ordination process across departments.

Soft Drinks: Taxation

Richard Fuller: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how he plans to fund the cost of implementation of the soft drinks industry levy in its first year.

Damian Hinds: We will consult on the appropriate compliance arrangements for the levy and will plan resource allocation in due course.

Soft Drinks: Taxation

Richard Fuller: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what data or research by industry analysts were used to inform the decision to introduce a soft drinks industry levy.

Damian Hinds: Health experts have identified sugar sweetened soft drinks as a major source of sugar in children’s and teenagers’ diet, and a cause of childhood obesity. The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) recommends that sugar only forms 5% of daily calories; however, for children, it is currently around 15%. The most recent published National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) reports that sugar sweetened soft drinks are the a major contributor to daily sugar intake for children, accounting for about 30% of the daily sugar intake alone. The soft drinks industry levy will encourage producers to reformulate soft drinks so that they contain less sugar. Industry data was used for the policy costing of the soft drinks industry levy announced at Budget 2016. Details are available at page 12 in the Budget 2016 policy costings document available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508147/PU1912_Policy_Costings_FINAL3.pdf

Prime Minister

Anti-corruption Summit

Paul Flynn: To ask the Prime Minister, which leaders in civil society, business and government were invited to attend the anti-corruption conference, Tackling Corruption Together, which he hosted in London on 11 May 2016.

Mr David Cameron: The Tackling Corruption Together conference was organised by civil society organisations, businesses and the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Anti-corruption Summit

Paul Flynn: To ask the Prime Minister, whether he invited the President of Panama and the Prime Minister of the British Virgin Islands to attend the Anti-Corruption Summit held in London on 12 May 2016; and what criteria he used in deciding which political leaders to invite.

Mr David Cameron: The Anti-Corruption Summit was the first of its kind, bringing together world leaders and anti-corruption champions in business and civil society. 44 countries and seven international organisations attended, including 11 heads of state or government and the heads of the World Bank, IMF and UNDP. Leaders from those Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories that had agreed to automatic exchange of beneficial ownership information were among those invited. We agreed a Global Declaration, a Summit Communique and a set of country statements with ambitious commitments to expose, punish and drive out corruption. These are published on the gov.uk website.

Department for Work and Pensions

Social Security Benefits: EU Nationals

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the taper arrangements will be for the proposed phasing in of EU migrants' entitlement to in-work benefits.

Mr Shailesh Vara: I refer the right hon. Member to the February European Council Conclusions. The restrictions on in-work benefits will apply to each newly arriving EU worker for a period of four years from the commencement of employment, with the limitation tapered “from an initial complete exclusion but gradually increasing access to such benefits to take account of the growing connection of the work with the labour market of the host Member State”. Precise details are a matter for the implementation of the proposal, and further announcements will be made in due course.

State Retirement Pensions: British Nationals Abroad

Ian Blackford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions his Department has had with the Canadian government on the uprating of pensions for UK citizens living in that country.

Justin Tomlinson: The positions of the Canadian and UK governments on this issue were most recently discussed in 2013.

Personal Independence Payment

Tom Pursglove: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the Answer of 26 April 2016 to Question 35188, if he will estimate the cost of collecting information on the number of personal independence payment assessment appointments which are cancelled.

Justin Tomlinson: Information on cancelled appointments, and the reasons for them, is not held centrally within the Department. In order to obtain this information we would need to ask our providers to clerically collate, prepare and quality assure this information. We estimate this would take in excess of 5 days to complete and the cost would be disproportionately excessive.

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Ian Blackford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on potential mitigation measures for women that have witnessed an increase in their pensionable age.

Justin Tomlinson: The Secretary of State is in regular contact with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on a range of pensions issues. The State Pension age changes, which were made to put pensions on a more financially sustainable footing given increases in life expectancy, were fully debated and voted on when the legislation was before Parliament. During the Pensions Act 2011 a concession, worth £1.1 billion, was introduced to limit the impact of the rising State Pension age on those women most affected. These transitional arrangements capped the maximum delay at 18 months rather than two years, relative to the previous timetable. Unwinding any of these changes means asking young people to assume more of the cost, and after they’ve already borne their fair share of the tough decisions made last Parliament to bring Government spending under control. Therefore, the Secretary of State is clear that there are no plans to bring forward further concessions or changes.

State Retirement Pensions: British Nationals Abroad

Ian Blackford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on what other OECD member states do not uprate the pensions of its pensioners living abroad; and if he will make a statement.

Justin Tomlinson: The Department does not hold the information requested.

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Ian Blackford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will (a) review and (b) slow down the rate of increase in pensionable age for women.

Justin Tomlinson: The State Pension age changes, which were made to put pensions on a more financially sustainable footing given increases in life expectancy, were fully debated and voted on when the legislation was before Parliament. During the Pensions Act 2011 a concession, worth £1.1 billion, was introduced to limit the impact of the rising State Pension age on those women most affected. These transitional arrangements capped the maximum delay at 18 months rather than two years, relative to the previous timetable. Unwinding any of these changes means asking young people to assume more of the cost, and after they’ve already borne their fair share of the tough decisions made last Parliament to bring Government spending under control. Therefore, the Secretary of State is clear that there are no plans to bring forward further concessions or changes.

Personal Independence Payment

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, on how many occasions has the personal independence payment (PIP) telephone has been unobtainable to the public in 2016; and how many people calling to enquire about PIP have been affected by those incidents.

Justin Tomlinson: The total number of calls made to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Claims and Enquiry lines that were unable to access our services due to heavy demand at peak periods including customers receiving a busy or engaged tone are set out below, this covers the period 1 January to 30 April 2016:  Calls ReceivedCalls not Connected% Not connectedPIP Claims411,1471680.04%PIP Enquiries1,113,80318,9491.70%  The department employs the following contingency arrangements to reduce the level of unanswered calls:: assigning staff that are undertaking clerical work to take calls for busy periods,opening extra hours and ask for staff to volunteer to take additional callspostponing non-priority offline time (L+D, team meetings etc.) to meet the demands of the customersincreasing the amount of open lines before a call is blocked by the network.

Social Security Benefits: Cancer

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to review the system of benefits for the parents of children with cancer and leukaemia.

Justin Tomlinson: The benefits available to the parents of children with cancer and leukaemia will depend on the particular circumstances of their household. Extra support is available to those parents who have had to give up full-time work to care for a child with a health condition or disability through benefits such as Carer’s Allowance, Income Support and Universal Credit. Disability Living Allowance may also be payable for children with a long-term health condition or disability as a contribution towards the extra costs they may incur.

State Retirement Pensions: British Nationals Abroad

Ian Blackford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on funding the uprating of pensions that are frozen for people living overseas.

Justin Tomlinson: The Secretary of State is in regular contact with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on pensions issues. UK State Pensions are payable worldwide and are uprated overseas where we have a legal requirement to do so – for example in the European Economic Area or in countries where there is a reciprocal agreement in place which allows for uprating. There are no plans to change this policy.

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Ian Blackford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of lost income on women who have had an increase in their pensionable age.

Justin Tomlinson: It is not possible to assess the financial impact at an individual level as it is highly dependent on a variety of characteristics. The financial impact on a small number of hypothetical cases was modelled for the 2011 Pensions Act Impact Assessment:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181462/pensions-bill-2011-ia-annexa.pdf The gender impact assessment in annex A shows that, while some aspects of the Pensions Act 2011 provisions will impact women more strongly than men, the impact is not disproportionate and is a consequence of closing the gender gap in State Pension age earlier than under the previous legislation. Our analysis also shows that the average woman reaching State Pension age last year (2015) gets a higher state pension income over her lifetime than an average woman who reached State Pension age at any point before her – despite the equalisation of State Pension age. Also, over a lifetime, the average woman who reached State Pension age last year will receive more than the average man. This is consistent with the trend going forward. Further information on the impacts of the new State Pension can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-state-pension-impact-on-an-individuals-pension-entitlement-longer-term-effects

Occupational Health

Dr Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government plans to take to reduce the number of occupation illnesses.

Justin Tomlinson: Tackling ill health is one of six strategic themes in the new strategy for the health and safety system, ‘Helping Great Britain work well’. The strategy is available at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/strategy/index.htm

Industrial Health and Safety

Dr Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many unplanned Health and Safety Executive inspections took place in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.

Dr Eilidh Whiteford: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many unplanned Health and Safety Executive inspections were conducted at construction sites in (a) Scotland, (b) England, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland in each of the last five years.

Justin Tomlinson: HSE does not carry out unplanned inspections, but targets its proactive visits (the majority of which are unannounced) based on intelligence about industry risk profiles and duty holder performance. The following table provides the available data for the last 5 years (HSE does not hold data for inspections in Northern Ireland): Inspections1ScotlandEnglandWalesRegion not recorded32011/12HSE2215180101289200Construction2129098839421732012/13HSE2787181771125151Construction2128390096271282013/14HSE2124198691448157Construction2958103845411362014/15HSE1700169801320120Construction264989875261102015/16HSE2082147741170105Construction2873779445397Notes:1 – The data provided is based on live, operational records as at 25 May 2016.2 – This represents inspections of construction activities carried out by inspectors in Construction Division and by inspectors in other HSE divisions at sites with the Standard Industrial Classifications 41-43.3 –The regional location is determined by local authority area, which may not have been confirmed at the time of recording.

EU Globalisation Fund

Anna Turley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when the Government has applied to the European Commission Globalisation Adjustment Fund; and whether each such application was successful.

Anna Turley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons the Government did not apply to the European Globalisation Fund to secure financial support for those affected by the closure of SSI Redcar in 2015.

Anna Turley: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria the Government considers before making an application to the European Globalisation Fund.

Mr Shailesh Vara: The UK has not made any applications to the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF). The European Globalisation Fund (EGF) provides a financial contribution for active labour market measures, aimed at reintegrating those made or at risk of being made redundant in the labour market. EGF Regulations state that these measures must complement actions at national, regional and local level. The EGF Regulations also set out strict criteria and eligibility for potential applicants with regards to the number of redundancies that take place over a given period of time and the link between these redundancies and globalisation or the global financial and economic crisis. The UK already offers a broad range of personalised support to workers made redundant through its Rapid Response Service and Jobcentre Plus, which could therefore not be duplicated or substituted by EGF. The Rapid Response Service and the Jobcentre Plus Core Offer are effective reintegration tools which represent good value for money and are our primary and most effective means of response to support the industry. In addition to this, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills also announced packages of support worth up to £80 million for SSI in Redcar. It has, therefore, not been necessary to make an application for EGF funding to provide complementary support.

Personal Independence Payment: Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people applied for personal independence payments and were diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease in (a) England and (b) Wales in the last five years.

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who currently claim personal independence payments have been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease in (a) England and (b) Wales.

Justin Tomlinson: The requested information for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) applications is not available as information on PIP claimants’ disabling conditions is not collected at the initial claim application stage. The latest available data on PIP claims in payment, including by main disabling condition and geography (e.g. region), are published on Stat-Xplore: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk. Guidance on how to use Stat-Xplore can be found here: https://sw.stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/online-help/index.html. These data relate to the claimant’s main disabling condition. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions, but these cannot be identified from the data the department holds. Therefore there may be other claimants in receipt of PIP who have been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease who are not captured in the above data.

Attendance Allowance: Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people applied for attendance allowance and were diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease in (a) England and (b) Wales in the last five years.

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who currently claim attendance allowance have been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease in (a) England and (b) Wales.

Justin Tomlinson: Statistical information on people currently receiving Attendance Allowance (AA), including the numbers with a main disabling condition of inflammatory bowel disease, and their location, is available from the DWP Tabulation Tool: http://tabulation-tool.dwp.gov.uk/100pc/tabtool.html. These data relate to the claimant’s main disabling condition at the time their claim is awarded. Claimants may often have multiple disabling conditions, but these cannot be identified from the data the department holds. Therefore there may be other claimants in receipt of AA who have been diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease who are not captured in the above data. Information on disabling conditions is not collected at the initial claim application stage.

Pensions: Advisory Services

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government plans to take to help people who will access their pensions before the proposed new pension guidance service becomes available in April 2018.

Justin Tomlinson: The current Pension Wise service will continue to deliver guidance to people aged 50 years and over, with defined contribution pension pots, to help them understand their options under the pension freedoms.The new pensions guidance body will take forward the services currently provided by three organisations: Pension Wise, The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) and the pension services offered by Money Advise Service (MAS). Until then these organisations will continue to support people in understanding and accessing their pensions.

Social Security Benefits: Disability

Susan Elan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that (a) medical assessors and (b) others considering applications for (a) personal independence payment and (b) other benefits have knowledge of (i) muscular dystrophy, (ii) neuromuscular conditions and (iii) other rare and progressive conditions.

Justin Tomlinson: All healthcare professionals carrying out assessments receive comprehensive training in disability analysis, which includes the evaluation of how medical conditions affect claimants in their day-to-day activities. Prior to carrying out an assessment, assessors refresh their knowledge of any condition with which they are not fully familiar. Benefit entitlement is determined by the Department’s decision makers, who receive extensive training to enable them to evaluate a claim and assess a claimant’s needs. In order to make a decision on benefit entitlement the decision maker considers all the available evidence, including the reports received from the healthcare professional and any further evidence, which may include reports from GPs, hospital doctors and other clinicians.

Home Office

Home Office: Staff

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff are employed in the Higher Education Audit Team; and what plans she has to change that number.

James Brokenshire: There are currently five staff working in the Higher Education Assurance Team (HEAT). The team is part of the Home Office's wider Sponsor Compliance Network which is currently under review. Until that review is complete it is not possible to confirm the team's eventual size and structure but its role and responsibilities will continue to be delivered within the Compliance Network's operating structure.

Asylum: EU Law

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of her Department's full-time equivalent officials are seconded to (a) France, (b) Italy, (c) Greece and (d) any other EU country in order to identify and support Dublin III asylum transfer requests; and what plans her Department has to second further staff to identify and support such requests.

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's Written Statement of 21 April 2016, HCWS687, on refugees and resettlement, what (a) additional steps she has taken and (b) further steps she plans to take to implement and streamline the Dublin III Regulation process and to quickly identify children who qualify for family reunion across Europe.

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of her Department's officials are working on processing Dublin III asylum transfer requests; and what plans her Department has to increase the number of such staff.

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to increase the resources available for the processing of Dublin III asylum transfer requests.

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to simplify application and processing systems to expedite the processing of Dublin III asylum transfer requests.

James Brokenshire: We continue to work with a number of EU Member States and the European Asylum Sup-port Office (EASO) to ensure Dublin works effectively. We are in ongoing discussions with France, Italy and Greece, as well as the UNHCR, to ensure that we continue to have the right processes in place and the resources to make them work effectively.We have recently deployed two UK experts to the Greek Dublin Unit. We are currently providing bilateral support to the Italian Dublin Unit through a long term secondment. We are also due to deploy an additional UK expert to the Italian Dublin Unit shortly.Our work with France including the permanent official contact group and a recently sec-onded senior UK official to the French Dublin Unit to assist with the identification and transfer of cases has shown results of our collaborative efforts.The Home Office has a unit processing Dublin III asylum transfer requests from and to the United Kingdom. This unit comprises 78.34 full time equivalent managers, caseworkers and support staff. Staffing levels will remain in line with anticipated volumes.As announced on 4 May we are now looking to transfer children who were already present in Europe before the EU-Turkey deal came into force on 20 March, where it is in their best interests. It is important that we ensure we fulfil our obligations to children who are already in UK, as well ensuring we have the right support for those who may be brought to the UK from Europe. We are working with the relevant Member States, the UNHCR and other Non-Governmental Organisations and local authorities to establish the best way to implement the provisions of the Immigration Act 2016 for the transfer of unaccompanied refugee children from Europe to the UK.

Fraud

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the level of trends in (a) online and (b) telephone fraud in the last five years.

Mr John Hayes: The Home Office collect statistics from the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) on the number of fraud offences recorded and these are published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in Tables A4 and A5 of the quarterly crime statistics at:https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesappendixtablesAlthough Action Fraud requests information on enablers (e.g. online, telephone, post) when frauds are reported, it is voluntary for victims to provide it and not verified. As a result there is likely to be a significant number of offences that should have been flagged as, for example, online but are not, as well as incorrectly classified offences. NFIB intend to revisit this issue once their new management information system has been launched.The ONS recently added new fraud and cyber crime questions to the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW). As part of this development, they also added a question to ask victims whether the internet or any type of online activity related to any aspect of the offence experienced. As such, it should be possible to estimate the level of online fraud against individuals from this and ONS are developing their plans for publishing this information.

Fire and Rescue Services: Finance

Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding the Government made available to fire and rescue authorities over the last five years; how much such funding the Government plans to make available to such authorities over the next five years; and what assessment her Department has made of the effect of changes in levels of funding over the next five years on each fire and rescue authority area.

Mike Penning: Like all other local authorities fire and rescue authorities have had to play their part in reducing the national deficit. Fire and rescue services have coped well with savings to date: the numbers of incidents and fire deaths and injuries have all fallen to an historic low. The 2013 Knight Review provided clear evidence of the scope for fire and rescue authorities to make further efficiencies.The table below shows the funding provided to single-purpose fire and rescue authorities.Single purpose Fire and Rescue Authorities Funding 2011-12£0.996 bn2012-13£1.014 bn2013-14£1.083 bn2014-15£1.005 bn2015-16£0.917 bn2016-17£0.869 bnCounty councils that include fire and rescue services will decide for themselves how to fund those services. However, we expect that county councils in this position will ensure that their fire and rescue services are able to maintain the same quality and breadth of services as single purpose authorities.In 2013-14 the Government introduced a new funding system for local government. Under this system the sector retained 50% of business rates. It is therefore inappropriate to compare these amounts over time due to differences in the way that funding was provided in each year.For the first time ever, the Government offers the opportunity of financial certainty for fire and rescue authorities, with the offer of a firm four-year settlement in return for robust efficiency plans.Indicative funding allocations for 2017-18 to 2019-20 can be found at:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/498722/Key_info_for_local_authorities.xlsx

Home Office: Hotels

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of hotel bookings her Department made for (a) Ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) officials in each of the last five years.

Karen Bradley: We refer the Honourable Member to the answer to PQ 37638, given by the Cabinet Office.

Social Networking

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many cases of online abuse on (a) Facebook, (b) Twitter and (c) all other social media have been reported to the police since 2010.

Mr John Hayes: The Home Office do not hold the information requested.However, we have introduced an ‘online flag’ as part of the police recorded crime data collection. This allows police forces to record online instances of abuse and other crimes such as stalking, harassment, sexual offences and others. These offences could have taken place solely online, or had an online element to them. These data are currently still in development but will be published in due course. However, it will not be possible to split the data according to type of social media used (if any).

Internet: Bullying

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on tackling online abuse in schools.

Karen Bradley: The UK Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCCIS) is co-chaired by Ministers from Department for Education, Home Office and Department for Culture Media and Sport. This brings together industry, law enforcement, academia, charities and parenting groups to help to keep children and young people safe online. As part of this work, the UK’s Communications regulator, Ofcom, published best practice guidance for social media platforms to encourage responsible practice from industry in December 2015.The Department for Education recognises that educating young people is key to tackling cyberbullying and protecting children from online abuse. All schools must have a behaviour policy which includes measures to prevent and tackle all forms of bullying, including cyberbullying. To help schools to develop effective measures the Department for Education has produced advice which provides a definition of cyberbullying and outlines the steps schools can take to deal with bullying.Search powers included in the Education Act 2011 have given teachers stronger powers to tackle cyber-bullying (via text message or the internet) by providing a specific power to search for and, if necessary, delete inappropriate images (or files) on electronic devices, including mobile phones. The Department has also issued advice for parents and carers on cyberbullying which specifies the tell-tale signs that it is happening and includes advice on what do when it occurs.The Government has invested £3.85 million in a new phase of our This is Abuse campaign, which tackles abuse within teenage relationships and was launched in March. The National Crime Agency’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) has developed a comprehensive education programme, called Thinkuknow, which provides targeted advice to children, parents and carers, including on how to use social media safely.

Immigration Controls: EU Nationals

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people from the A2 countries of the EU were stopped at border control as a result of intelligence shared by the authorities of those countries in each of the last five years.

James Brokenshire: This information is not centrally held. Border Force works with a range of partners, including law enforcement agencies from the UK and overseas to share intelligence used to identify potentially dangerous and undesirable individuals who are seeking to travel to and enter the UK.

Criminal Records: EU Countries

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criminal record-sharing facilities exist between the UK and the A2 countries of the EU; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire: The UK exchanges criminal records information with the A2 countries - Bulgaria and Romania - as a result of the UK’s participation in the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS).

European Arrest Warrants

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many European Arrest Warrant surrenders (a) to and (b) from each UK law enforcement agency there have been of people suspected of violent, sexual or other offences against women in each year since 2004; and of which offence each of those people was suspected.

James Brokenshire: The statistics provided by the National Crime Agency on their website: http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/european-arrest-warrant-statistics are not broken down in the manner requested (i.e., by gender). Additionally they are only available by offence-type from calendar year 2010.

Extradition

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time taken was to extradite suspected criminals from countries covered by the provisions of European Arrest Warrant scheme (a) before and (b) in each year after the Extradition Act 2003 came into force.

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time taken to extradite suspected criminals is from category 2 (a) Type A and (b) Type B territories.

James Brokenshire: The European Arrest Warrant is designed to speed up the process of extradition. As set out in Command Paper Cm 8897 (Decision pursuant to Article 10(5) of Protocol 36 to The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union), in terms of average time taken for surrender from the UK to another country, it takes on average about three months to extradite someone under a European Arrest Warrant. Extradition to relevant non-EU countries takes on average about ten months but can, and often does, take considerably longer. Time limits are shorter under the European Arrest Warrant than under the European Convention on Extradition, resulting in shorter times in custody overall.

Arrests: EU Nationals

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people from the A2 countries of the EU were arrested in each of the last five years for which records are available.

Mike Penning: The Home Office does not hold data centrally on the number of arrests of people from A2 countries of the EU.The Home Office collect and publish data on the number of arrests broken down by offence group, gender, age group and ethnicity. The Home Office does not collect data on the nationality of those arrested.

Alternatives to Prison

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how community resolution agreements are recorded in crime statistics.

Mr John Hayes: The Home Office publishes the number of Community Resolutions issued and recorded by police forces as part of its Crime Outcomes in England and Wales statistical releases. These show Community Resolutions that have been delivered in accordance with the College of Policing guidance on the Use of Community Resolution Incorporating Restorative Justice.The latest figures show that in year ending December 2015 there were 120,002 Community Resolutions recorded by police forces in England and Wales.

Cybercrime: Young People

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to deter young people from committing cyber crime.

Mr John Hayes: The Government’s Serious and Organised Crime Strategy (2013) sets out our approach to deterring people from becoming involved in serious and organised crime, including cyber crime.In March 2015, the Home Office published additional guidance to support local partners to understand pathways into serious and organised crime and put in place Prevent interventions for individuals at risk. The Home Office works closely with law enforcement, in particular the National Crime Agency (NCA) , to understand the drivers behind young people committing cyber crime.Working to the Serious and Organised Crime Strategy, the NCA aims to prevent young people from becoming involved in cybercrime in the first place, moving deeper into cyber crime and/or reoffending. The NCA works with both domestic and international partners to raise awareness of what activity is illegal, what are the consequences and the many positive career pathways available for those with technical cyber skillsets.

Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Office: Food

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what the annual budget is for food produced for her Department's offices; and what proportion of food produced for her Department was sourced from British producers in the last period for which figures are available.

Mrs Theresa Villiers: There is no specific budget allocated for food produced within the Departmen; figures which detail the origin of food produced are not held by my department.

Department of Health

Skin

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have been referred to the NHS for remedial treatments for scarring and pain after laser hair treatment in each of the last five years.

Jane Ellison: This information is not held centrally.

Abortion

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with the Royal College of Midwives and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service on time limits for abortion.

Jane Ellison: No discussions have taken place with either organisation on this issue.

NHS: Sustainable Development

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, which NHS bodies will authorise Sustainability and Transformation Plan footprints; what role NHS Improvement will play; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman: The NHS Shared Planning Guidance asked the National Health Service to develop proposed footprints for Sustainability and Transformation Plans by 29 January 2016, engaging with local authorities and other partners. The footprints were then reviewed by the national arm’s length bodies, including NHS Improvement, with regard to geography (including patient flow), scale, fit with footprints of existing change programmes, financial sustainability, and leadership capacity. There were one or two areas where further clarification was sought and, following further conversations locally, changes were agreed. The process for Sustainability and Transformation Plans is designed to bring together health and care leaders to support improvements in health and care based on the needs of local populations. It does not alter the existing accountabilities of clinical commissioning groups, local authorities and NHS provider organisations.

NHS: Sustainable Development

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 18 April 2016 to Question 33537 on Sustainability and Transformation Plan footprints, how his Department defines a system control total; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman: The shared NHS planning guidance, 'Delivering the Forward View: NHS Planning Guidance 2016/17 - 2021', published in December 2015, stated that NHS England and NHS Improvement would continue to be open to new approaches to contracting between NHS commissioners and providers and that this could, for instance, include exploring with a few local health systems applying a single financial control total across local commissioners and providers. NHS England and NHS Improvement will work, where appropriate, with local health systems that wish to develop fuller proposals as part of their Sustainability and Transformation Plans.The Guidance is now available at: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/planning-guid-16-17-20-21.pdf

Alcoholic Drinks: Misuse

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) harmful and (b) hazardous alcohol drinkers in (i) England, (ii) each local authority area and (iii) each parliamentary constituency in the latest year for which data are available.

Jane Ellison: Hazardous drinking is a pattern of alcohol consumption carrying risks of physical and psychological harm to the individual. Harmful drinking denotes the most hazardous use of alcohol, at which damage to health is likely. Data is not collected centrally for the numbers of harmful and hazardous alcohol drinkers by parliamentary constituency. The published table 9.3 in the Health and Social Care Information Centre, Adult psychiatric morbidity in England, 2007 Results of a household survey provides the most recent prevalence estimates of hazardous and harmful drinking in the past year. The report is available at: http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB02931/adul-psyc-morb-res-hou-sur-eng-2007-rep.pdf The most recent estimates of increasing and higher risk drinking for local authority areas were published in 2012 (based on 2009 data) in the Public Health England (PHE), Local Alcohol Profiles for England (LAPE).  The PHE LAPE is available at: http://www.lape.org.uk/downloads/LAPE_LA_Dataset_PHE_280514_FINAL.xlsx

Autism

Mrs Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what progress NHS England has made on including an indicator in the Mental Health Services Data Set recording a diagnosis of autism; and when data collection of such diagnoses is planned to commence.

Alistair Burt: NHS England has been working with the Health and Social Care Information Centre to develop reporting from the new Mental Health Services Data Set. This mandatory data set includes provision for the diagnosis of autism to be recorded, and reporting on this data has been prioritised. We expect experimental data reports on the number of people diagnosed with autism to be published by the end of 2016.

Endometriosis

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness of endometriosis among (a) the general public and (b) primary care doctors in England.

Jane Ellison: It is important that women with endometriosis receive appropriate treatment and support. Information on endometriosis is readily available to both the public and healthcare professionals. NHS Choices have published information for the public on the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis available at: http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Endometriosis/Pages/Introduction.aspx The Department of Health in England has asked the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence to develop a guideline on the diagnosis and management of endometriosis for healthcare professionals, including those in primary care. The guidance will be published in July 2017. All obstetricians and gynaecologists have been trained in the diagnosis, investigation and management of endometriosis, which is specifically listed as a topic in the core curriculum for obstetrics and gynaecology. To support clinicians, the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology has published a comprehensive guideline and app on the management and treatment of endometriosis. Guideline available at: https://www.eshre.eu/Guidelines-and-Legal/Guidelines/Endometriosis-guideline.aspx

Endometriosis: Diagnosis

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what is the average time taken for women with endometriosis to receive that diagnosis.

Jane Ellison: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Biomedicines

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what research his Department is conducting on the use of biosimilars in healthcare.

George Freeman: The Department is not conducting and has not commissioned specific research on the use of biosimilars in healthcare.

Endometriosis: Diagnosis

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many women have been diagnosed with endometriosis in (a) Sunderland, (b) the North East and (c) England.

Jane Ellison: The number of people who have been diagnosed with endometriosis is not collected centrally. The table below shows finished hospital admission episodes (FAEs) with a primary diagnosis of endometriosis, for the year 2014-15. The data only include diagnoses of endometriosis where there was a hospital admission. There may be further cases of the condition that were diagnosed and treated in another healthcare setting, including hospital outpatient services. These data are not counts of people, as the same person may have been admitted to hospital on more than one occasion. These data are based on the patient’s normal home address. Count of FAEs for female patients with a primary diagnosis of endometriosis, for Sunderland Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), North East England Government Office Region (GOR), and England in 2014-15: Region of residenceFAEsSunderland CCG109North East GOR718England18,011

Endometriosis

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what plans he has for the future level of funding for researching the causes of and treatments for endometriosis.

George Freeman: The usual practice of the Department's National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and of the Medical Research Council is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics: research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available.The Department's NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including endometriosis. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity. The NIHR has funded a number of studies relevant to the condition.

Pharmacy

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of his proposals for the future of community pharmacy on care for elderly people.

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of his proposals for the future of community pharmacy on care for vulnerable patients.

Alistair Burt: Community pharmacy is a vital part of the National Health Service. We want to see a high quality community pharmacy service that is properly integrated into primary care and public health in line with the Five Year Forward View.We want to make pharmacists a pivotal part of primary care for all patient groups, including the elderly and vulnerable, by increasing the number who bring their skills to general practitioner (GP) practices, care homes, urgent care and public health settings. We have consulted on how best to introduce a Pharmacy Integration Fund to help transform how pharmacists, their teams and community pharmacy will operate in the NHS, bringing clear benefits to patients and the public.Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive. We are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared with others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population.The community pharmacy proposals for 2016/17 and beyond, on which we have consulted, are being considered in respect to the public sector equality duty, the family test and relevant duties of the Secretary of State under the NHS Act 2006.An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course.

Medical Treatments Abroad: Europe

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of whether UK citizens would retain the automatic right to hold the European Health Insurance Card during the period prior to the completion of Article 50 negotiations relating to the Lisbon Treaty in the event of the UK voting to leave the EU.

Alistair Burt: The procedure governing a country’s departure from the European Union is set out in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. This provides for a period of two years for the negotiation of exit terms. EU law would continue to apply to the departing Member State until the Article 50 agreement had entered into force, or for two years if no agreement had been reached and no extension to the two year period had been granted. A request for an extension could only be granted with the unanimous agreement of the remaining Member States. The Government's position is that the United Kingdom will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

Endometriosis

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he makes of the proportion of women with endometriosis who do not receive the correct (a) diagnosis of and (b) treatment for that condition.

Jane Ellison: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Pharmacy: Yorkshire and the Humber

Mr Nick Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of planned budget reductions for community pharmacy on patient and health services in (a) Sheffield and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber.

Alistair Burt: We are consulting the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, other pharmacy bodies and patient and public representatives on our proposals. An impact assessment will be completed to inform final decisions and published in due course. NHS England has a statutory duty to ensure the adequate provision of National Health Service pharmaceutical services across England and will ensure that duty continues to be met in Sheffield. Community pharmacy is a vital part of the NHS and can play an even greater role. In the Spending Review, the Government re-affirmed the need for the NHS to deliver £22 billion in efficiency savings by 2020-21 as set out in the NHS’s own plan, the Five Year Forward View. Community pharmacy is a core part of NHS primary care and has an important contribution to make as the NHS rises to these challenges. The Government believes efficiencies can be made without compromising the quality of services or public access to them. Our aim is to ensure that those community pharmacies upon which people depend continue to thrive and so we are consulting on the introduction of a Pharmacy Access Scheme, which will provide more NHS funds to certain pharmacies compared to others, considering factors such as location and the health needs of the local population. The Government’s vision is for a more efficient, modern system that will free up pharmacists to spend more time delivering clinical and public health services to the benefit of patients and the public.

Autism

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what funds his Department is providing from the public purse to deliver its autism strategy in (a) England and (b) Gloucestershire; whether that funding is ring-fenced; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: Think Autism, the updated Cross Government strategy for adults with autism in England was published in 2014. A focus of the strategy is for public services and organisations to think about and engage with people who have autism more effectively and make reasonable adjustments or adaptations to improve outcomes and make better use of existing public resources. The Department made available revenue and capital funding of £4.5 million to support innovation and awareness in 2014/15 but no funds are individually ring-fenced. Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire local authorities both received £18,500 seed corn capital funding to make environments more autism friendly, and South Gloucestershire was awarded £8,300 for an Autism Innovation Fund project.

Breast Cancer

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with medical organisations on using DNA tests to help in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

Jane Ellison: We are not aware of any discussions with medical organisations on using DNA tests to help in the diagnosis, and treatment, of breast cancer.

Life Expectancy

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with medical organisations on addressing the effect of (a) loneliness and (b) broken sleep on longevity.

Alistair Burt: My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State meets regularly with medical organisations to discuss a wide range of issues, including loneliness and how feeling lonely can have a significant impact on a person’s health and wellbeing. The Secretary of State addressed this issue in a keynote speech he made in 2013 at the National Children and Adult Services Annual Conference. The text of the speech is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-forgotten-millionEvidence is still limited for effective interventions which address loneliness. Public Health England’s (PHE) Behavioural Insights Team in collaboration with local government, clinical commissioning groups, general practitioners (GPs), and the third sector have designed a low cost, scalable and evidence-informed intervention. This helps to identify older people in primary care who are at risk of social isolation and loneliness and support them through services that draw on the best available evidence of ‘what works’. PHE will pilot this intervention, engaging GPs.There have been no discussions held with medical organisations on the effect of broken sleep on longevity.

Bronchitis: Medical Treatments

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with medical organisations on treatment of chronic bronchitis through the freezing of lungs.

Jane Ellison: There have been no such discussions.

Strokes: Aspirin

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with medical organisations on the use of aspirin to prevent strokes.

George Freeman: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) clinical guideline on stroke and transient ischaemic attack in over 16s: diagnosis and initial management (CG68), published in July 2008, recommends that all people presenting with acute stroke who have had a diagnosis of primary intracerebral haemorrhage excluded by brain imaging should be given aspirin 300 mg as soon as possible but certainly within 24 hours. Thereafter, aspirin 300 mg should be continued until two weeks after the onset of stroke symptoms, at which time definitive long-term antithrombotic treatment should be initiated.  This guidance is due to be reviewed by NICE in July 2016 to see whether it needs to be updated.

Hypertension: Alzheimer's Disease

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions his Department has had with medical organisations on the potential link between high blood pressure in people of 30 to 40 years of age and the development of Alzheimer's disease.

Jane Ellison: The Department has had no such discussions. Dementia is a key priority for this Government. That is why on 6 March 2016, we published the Implementation Plan to support the Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia 2020. As part of the Plan, we will transform our approach to risk reduction, using the NHS Health Check programme to educate more people earlier about the risks of developing dementia – and the steps they could take to reduce those risks. In March 2016, we announced that Public Health England, in collaboration with Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK, will pilot approaches to the dementia awareness and risk reduction component of the NHS Health Check, specifically with the younger age group, aged 40-64. The Government has also signed up to the Blackfriars’ Consensus, which, made clear that individuals can reduce their risk of dementia by living healthier lives by not smoking, drinking less, keeping physically active and better managing diabetes.

Stem Cells: Research

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the use of embryonic stem cell research for the development of treatments for patients.

George Freeman: Treatments based on the use of stem cells including those obtained by embryos must be demonstrated to be both safe and effective before they can receive authorisation.

Stem Cells: Medical Treatments

Fiona Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people have been treated with adult stem cells in the UK in each of the last 10 years.

George Freeman: The Department does not hold data on the number of patients receiving stem cell treatments.

Medical Records: Databases

Joan Ryan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect on patient confidentiality of the decision by NHS Royal Free Foundation Trust to grant DeepMind access to NHS patient records; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman: Individual organisations providing National Health Service care are the data controllers for the information that they hold, and are responsible for ensuring that there is a legal basis for sharing confidential patient information with a third party. Individual organisations must ensure that where patient consent is the basis for information sharing that patients are fully informed about the purposes for which personal information might be processed and with whom they might share information. Where a NHS organisation has contracted a third party to process personal information on its behalf to support the provision of direct care to patients the individual organisation must ensure that it has contractual safeguards in place to prevent the third party from using the data for purposes other than those determined by the NHS organisation. NHS organisations should not share confidential patient information where the patient has objected – except in cases where there is a legal requirement to share data or an overriding public interest.

Health Services: Children

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate his Department has made of the average waiting time for therapy referrals and appointments for children with special needs (a) nationally and (b) in Gloucestershire in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: This information is not held centrally.Currently in Gloucestershire, 94% of patients are accessing Speech and Language therapy and 99% of patients are accessing Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy within eight weeks of referral.

Hospitals: Parking

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of hospitals have a policy of charging (a) blue badge holders and (b) carers for parking.

Alistair Burt: Data is not collected centrally in the exact format requested. Data on car parking is collected annually through two collections.The Estates Return Information Collection asks whether organisations charge for the use of designated disabled parking spaces. Of the 1,038 sites that have designated disabled car parking spaces 87% do not charge.The Patient Led Assessment of the Care Environment asks about the number of sites that offer car parking charge concessions in accordance with the National Health Service patient, visitor and staff car parking principles. Of the 372 sites that charge for car parking, 86% offer concessions, which include either free car parking or reduced charges or caps.

Health Professions: Training

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he plans to replace bursaries for medical and dental students with loans.

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposed replacement of NHS bursaries by student loans on the number of mature students enrolling on nursing, widwifery and allied healthcare courses.

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 9 May 2016 to Question 36629, on health professions: training, if he will make available a copy of the advice he received from leading nursing professionals.

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 9 May 2016 to Question 36629, on health professions: training, if he will list the stakeholders who were consulted about proposed changes to NHS bursaries.

Ben Gummer: The Government does not plan to change the funding arrangements for medical and dental students who are already on the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills student support system for the first four years of their degrees. A preliminary Equality Analysis was published alongside the public consultation document on the 7 April 2016. This document provides the assessment of the potential effect of the replacement of National Health Service bursaries by student loans for all the protected characteristics of the Public Sector Equality Duty (Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). The Equality Analysis and the government consultation can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/changing-how-healthcare-education-is-funded As with all policy development, to inform decision-making, Ministers were briefed internally by relevant Departmental officials, including nursing profession leads. The Department received joint correspondence from the Council of Deans of Health and Universities UK about a number of issues relating to healthcare education funding in England. A copy of the letter is attached. The Department received a number of representations from organisations, including Royal Colleges, professional bodies and representatives of universities, about a number of issues relating to healthcare student education funding in England including a potential move from the current system of funding to student loans.



Council of Deans of Health and Universities UK
(PDF Document, 156.65 KB)

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many fines have been issued for claiming free prescriptions without a valid exemption certificate in each (a) month and (b) year since the NHS Business Services Authority began checking eligibility for free prescriptions in September 2014.

Alistair Burt: Since September 2014, when the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) took on responsibility for the service, a total of 747,790 penalty charge notices have been issued where someone claimed exemption on the basis that they held a valid exemption certificate but this could not be verified by the NHSBSA. A further 278,053 surcharge letters have been issued to follow up on penalty charge notices which have not been resolved through payment, cancellation (due to correction of erroneous information, for example) or waiving of the penalty charge. The annual and monthly breakdown is set out below. Annual breakdown of Penalty Charges Notices and Surcharge letters  Penalty Charge NoticesSurcharge lettersSeptember 2014 – December 201459,56420,562January 2015 – December 2015430,971171,065January 2016 – April 2016257,25586,426Total757,790278,053 Monthly breakdown of Penalty Charge Notices and Surcharge letters  Penalty Charge NoticesSurcharge letterSeptember 20145,2981,733October 20145,0071,697November 201423,5118,344December 201425,7488,788January 201553,66811,445February 201521,7067,969March 201515,3166,182April 201512,6875,032May 201520,1228,189June 201522,4728,984July 201518,2496,550August 201539,62617,282September 201557,66124,634October 201556,95225,075November 201564,57328,655December 201547,93921,068January 201682,88136,766February 201655,65024,079March 201649,76720,340April 201668,9575,241Total747,790278,053

General Practitioners: Manchester Withington

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many patients are registered at each GP surgery in Manchester, Withington constituency; what the capacity of each of those surgeries is; and how many of those surgeries are oversubscribed.

Alistair Burt: These data are not collected centrally.Data on numbers of patients registered with general practitioner (GP) practices is published quarterly by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) in a report entitled 'Number of Patients Registered at a GP Practice'. The latest available version is April 2016 and is available from the HSCIC website at:http://www.hscic.gov.uk/catalogue/PUB20480

Ovarian Cancer

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if his Department will take steps to ensure that the proposals to more closely align the approval process for the new cancer drugs fund with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence do not limit access to potential life-saving treatments such as Avastin for the treatment of ovarian cancer.

George Freeman: Since October 2010, the Cancer Drugs Fund (CDF) has helped over 84,000 people in England in accessing life-extending cancer drugs that would not otherwise have been available to them. NHS England is responsible for the operational management of the Fund and has consulted, jointly with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, on new arrangements for the CDF which will go live on 1 July 2016. NHS England has advised that, under these new arrangements, it envisages that a greater number of cancer drugs will be funded from baseline commissioning. This will be as a consequence of more appropriate pricing arrangements proposed by pharmaceutical manufacturers and better evidence being available through the Fund as to longer term patient outcomes.

Orkambi

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust's proposal for collaboration between the NHS and Vertex to widen access to the treatment Orkambi on the treatment of the patients with that disease.

George Freeman: The Department has received the Cystic Fibrosis Trust’s proposals for an arrangement that would potentially allow access to Orkambi (lumacaftor in combination with ivacaftor) as part of a Managed Access Scheme in the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s (NICE) appraisal of Orkambi. I have encouraged the Trust and the manufacturer, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, to engage with NICE to consider whether there remains scope for this, or any other, proposal to be taken into account in its appraisal and the Department is also engaging with the manufacturer directly on this matter.

Kidneys: Research

Derek Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of overall health research funding was invested in renal research in each year since 2010; and what plans he has to increase funding for such research in the next five years.

George Freeman: Spend on research funded directly by the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is categorised by Health Research Classification System (HRCS) health categories. NIHR expenditure on research infrastructure and systems where spend cannot be attributed to health categories is excluded. The following table shows NIHR spend in the ‘Renal and Urogenital’ category as a proportion of total categorised spend and as a proportion of total revenue expenditure.NIHR spend in ‘Renal and Urogenital’ HRCS health categoryProportion of total categorised NIHR spend %Proportion of total NIHR revenue spend %2010/111.61.02011/121.71.12012/132.01.52013/142.31.72014/151.91.6NIHR data for total 2015/16 spend on renal and urogenital research is not yet available.Total NIHR spend in future years on renal research depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity. The usual practice of the NIHR is not to ring-fence funds for expenditure on particular topics: research proposals in all areas compete for the funding available. The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including renal research. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and the National Health Service, value for money and scientific quality.

Motor Neurone Disease: Research

Michelle Donelan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what (a) financial and (b) other support his Department provided for research into treating motor neurone disease in each of the last three years.

George Freeman: Spend by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in the Health Research Classification System (HRCS) health category ‘neurological’ has increased from £29.9 million in 2010/11 to £46.7 million in 2014/15 (the latest year for which data is available). There are no HRCS health sub-categories such as for motor neurone disease or other specific neurological conditions, and information on total annual NIHR spend on research into treating motor neurone disease is not held.

Clinical Trials and Research

Derek Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure all patients have the opportunity to participate in clinical trials and research.

George Freeman: The NHS Constitution includes the following pledge: “The NHS commits to inform you of research studies in which you may be eligible to participate”. The Department, via the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), has a number of initiatives to deliver on the pledge, including the UK Clinical Trials Gateway (https://www.ukctg.nihr.ac.uk/) which is a public website where patients, carers and clinicians can find out about clinical studies current studies underway.The NIHR runs an annual national campaign called ‘Ok to ask’, to encourage the public to ask their clinician about research participation; more specifically, in 2014, the NIHR launched Join Dementia Research to encourage 100,000 people to volunteer to participate in dementia research by 2020; finally, through the NIHR Clinical Research Networks, last year 618,000 patients were recruited by NHS Providers into clinical trials.

Motor Neurone Disease: Diagnosis

Michelle Donelan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the earliest possible diagnosis of motor neurone disease.

Jane Ellison: On the 24 February 2016, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published a new guideline on the assessment and management of motor neurone disease (MND). The guideline sets out the signs and symptoms of the disease and recommends that robust protocols and pathways are in place to inform healthcare professionals about MND and how it may present and to inform healthcare professionals in all settings about local referral arrangements. NICE is clear that patients suspected of having MND should be referred without delay. The guideline can be found at the following link:www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng42/resources/motor-neurone-disease-assessment-and-management-1837449470149To support general practitioners (GPs) to spot the potential symptoms of MND, the Royal College of GPs (RCGP) and the MND Association have worked together to produce a ‘Red Flag Tool’ which sets out key signs of MND to help GPs to identify suspected cases and refer them promptly to a neurologist for appropriate investigation. The RCGP and the British Medical Journal have also both produced MND e-learning courses which together cover both signs and symptoms as well as disease management.

HIV Infection

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the Answer of 11 May 2016 to Question 36734, what steps his Department is taking to prevent those individuals identified as high risk not enrolled on the PROUD study from contracting HIV.

Jane Ellison: There are a number of workstreams within the national HIV Prevention and Sexual Health Promotion Programme that offer men who have sex with men (MSM), who remain one of the populations most at-risk from HIV, advice and resources to make sustainable and safer sexual health choices.Public Health England has also published its strategic action plan 2015-16 “Promoting the health and wellbeing of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men” (a copy is attached) which aims to promote the health and wellbeing of MSM by focussing on three interrelated areas in which MSM are disproportionately affected: sexual health and HIV, mental health and in the use of alcohol, drugs and tobacco.



PHE strategic action plan 2015-2016
(PDF Document, 474.7 KB)

Health Services: Procurement

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) science-related contracts and (b) outsourced activities in the health sector are awarded to organisations that demonstrate a commitment to high professional standards and invest in the professional development of their scientific workforce.

George Freeman: All procurement processes must identify key objectives, performance indicators and critical success factors and ensure these are reflected in the tender documents against which organisations are invited to bid. Where appropriate, specific ongoing training and development needs can be included as specific terms in the final signed contract.

Health Professions: Research

Derek Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to support healthcare professionals working in the NHS to continue to undertake research.

George Freeman: The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) improves the health and wealth of the nation through research. Part of the NIHR is the Faculty. The Faculty empowers and develops the NIHR community of research professionals, to improve the nation’s health, wellbeing and prosperity. The Faculty achieves this by creating a sense of common purpose and identity around shared values that cut across organisational and professional boundaries. The NIHR Faculty comprises three categories of membership: Investigators (including Senior Investigators), Associates and Trainees. The Faculty encompasses research, clinical and support staff from all relevant professional backgrounds.Since 2006 the NIHR: ― has made Senior Investigators awards to 338 individuals through nine competitions;― has supported 10,593 unique trainees through fellowships and through the NIHR Infrastructure;― has supported 5,920 unique Investigators through research contracts and the NIHR Infrastructure;― has supported 2,355 unique Principal Investigators through research contracts;― has supported 3,926 unique Investigators within the NIHR Infrastructure; and― has supported 4,652 Associates in the NIHR Infrastructure. The number of eligible clinical professional groups able to benefit from the training programmes targeted at allied health professionals and nurses has increased by 50% since 2006.

Health Professions: Registration

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many applications for registration to the Nursing and Midwifery Council were rejected from candidates trained (a) in England, (b) in the European Economic Area (EEA) and (c) outside the EEA in each year since 2009-10.

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many applications for registration to the Nursing and Midwifery Council were withdrawn by the applicant before they were assessed from candidates trained (a) in England, (b) in the European Economic Area (EEA) and (c) outside the EEA.

Ben Gummer: The information requested in relation to the number of applications for registration to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is not held centrally. The NMC is the independent regulator of nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom and is responsible for nurse and midwife registration. It has informed the Department that it does not collect data on how many applications for registration are rejected or withdrawn before they were assessed.

Health Professions: Registration

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average length of time taken by the Nursing and Midwifery Council was to process applications for registration from candidates trained in (a) in England, (b) in the European Economic Area (EEA) and (c) outside the EEA in each year since 2009-10.

Ben Gummer: The information requested in relation to the number of applications for registration to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is not held centrally. The NMC is the independent regulator of nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom and is responsible for nurse registration. Statistical information provided by the NMC on the average length of time taken to process applications is set out in the table below. This information is based on applications for initial registration and does not include renewals or readmission requests. Average length of time in days*---2009/20102010/20112011/20122012/20132013/20142014/20152015/2016UK**0.30.33.714.83.54.2European Economic Area0.60.822.25.812.612Overseas***0.40.41.8113.831.927.6VolumesUK19,68719,37619,14820,90522,73120,34919,133EEA1,9752,7163,1373,4365,3887,5199,389Overseas5501,1441,1558698406662145 *Processing timings relate to the very final stage of the process, which was amended in August 2013 to include face to face ID verification and document scrutiny meetings for overseas applicants and additional checks for EEA applicants, in support of improved regulatory rigour and enhanced public protection. ** Information is collected on a UK rather than an England basis. ***In January 2013 the overseas application process was suspended for a period while the robustness of the process was subject to review. When the process was restarted additional scrutiny steps had been added, while a new overseas process was developed. The NMC are currently operating two processes for overseas registration. Those who applied pre October 2014, are subject to the Overseas Nursing Programme route to registration, which may involve a practice placement of up to one year. The final entry to these programmes will be October 2016. Those applying post October 2014 are subject to the new Test of Competence, which means overall processing times will reduce as all applicants move onto the new process.

Health Professions: Registration

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what proportion of applications for registration to the Nursing and Midwifery Council were accepted within 90 days for candidates trained in (a) in England, (b) in the European Economic Area (EEA) and (c) outside the EEA in each year since 2009-10.

Ben Gummer: The information requested in relation to the number of applications for registration to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) is not held centrally. The NMC is the independent regulator of nurses and midwives in the United Kingdom and is responsible for nurse registration. Statistical information provided by the NMC on the proportion of applications for registration that were accepted within 90 days is set out in the table below. This information is based on applications for initial registration and does not include renewals or readmission requests.   2009/102010/112011/122012/132013/142014/152015/16%*UK**10010010010010099.999.8EEA10010010010099.998.3100Overseas***10010010010099.995.398.2* Measurements reflect the proportion of completed applications, where we have registered within the 90 day period. An application is deemed complete once all of the required documents have been submitted and confirmed. ** Information is collected on a UK rather than an England basis. *** Overseas and European Economic Area applicants undertake a multi stage process to join the register. Full information of the percentage completing this within 90 days is not available for this end to end process, without further detailed analysis. This above table provides the information on the percentage accepted and registered at the very final stage of the registration process, within 90 days.

HIV Infection: Drugs

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the timetable is for the Specialised Services Committee of NHS England announcing its position on commissioning pre-exposure drug prophyaxis for HIV for the at-risk population.

Jane Ellison: The outcome of this decision is expected at the end of May and NHS England will be communicating with stakeholders following the meeting of the Specialised Services Committee.

Medical Records: Databases

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what data has been shared between Google DeepMind and the NHS; what plans there are for further data sharing under that partnership; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman: In law, individual organisations providing National Health Service care are the legal data controllers for the information that they hold, and need to take the necessary action to prevent data from being accessed inappropriately. In addition, the proper use of informatics in medical research, diagnostics, treatment and condition management is central to the NHS’s ability to deliver safe and high quality patient care. There are national standards and protocols for monitoring and maintaining data security across the NHS.

Lyme Disease

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness of Lyme disease amongst medical professionals.

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many diagnoses of (a) Lyme disease and (b) chronic Lyme disease have been made in each of the last five years.

Teresa Pearce: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to raise public awareness of Lyme disease and of the measures that can be taken to reduce the risk of infection.

Jane Ellison: The existing National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance supports primary care doctors in managing Lyme disease but to further strengthen the evidence base we have commissioned NICE to develop guidelines for the recognition and treatment of Lyme disease; this is expected in June 2018. Public Health England (PHE) provides information on Lyme disease and tick awareness to the medical profession and the public, holds regular medical training days, and works with Lyme Disease Action to support the needs and interests of patients. NHS Choices also publishes information on its website to raise awareness of Lyme disease and encourage timely medical consultation because early diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease is the best way of limiting complications from infection. The number of human cases can be reduced by raising public awareness of how to avoid tick bites, and by environmental measures in public places to reduce the long grass and scrub which harbor ticks. PHE works with interested local authorities to raise tick awareness, and has produced joint public information with local authorities in areas such as the New Forest with a significant incidence of Lyme disease. The number of laboratory confirmed cases of Lyme disease in England and Wales varies annually, in 2013 there were 878 and in 2014 there were 730, but the majority of diagnoses are made clinically by general practitioners and those figures are not recorded. Patients with late or complicated Lyme disease may be diagnosed in a variety of specialist clinics, and the numbers are not recorded. Based on the clinical information supplied with the laboratory request, only a small proportion of the annual number of cases fall into this category. There is no clear definition for chronic Lyme disease, and no general acceptance of what the term means, so no data is available.

Sepsis: Children

Heidi Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what information is provided to new mothers on spotting the signs and symptoms of sepsis in young children and infants.

Jane Ellison: Health visitors are able to provide information to parents on the signs and symptoms of sepsis. Public Health England (PHE) is working with health visiting professional organisations to ensure health visitors have easy access to up to date advice to share with parents.General information about the signs and symptoms of sepsis is available on the NHS Choices website at:http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Blood-poisoning/Pages/Introduction.aspxNHS Choices also includes more specific information on the signs and symptoms of septicaemia caused by meningitis at:http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Meningitis/Pages/Symptoms.aspxWe have also asked PHE to develop an awareness campaign for parents that focuses on the symptoms of serious infections, including meningitis, septicaemia, and sepsis.

Long Stay Patients: Learning Disability

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of people with learning disabilities residing in long-stay hospitals in each year since 2013.

Alistair Burt: The number of patients in an inpatient setting with learning disabilities, autistic spectrum disorder and/or behaviour that challenges on 30 September 2013 was 3,250, on 30 September 2014 was 3,230 and on September 2015 was 3,000 (Learning Disability Census: England 2013/14/15).

Department of Health: Public Expenditure

Heidi Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether his Department exceeded its expenditure limit in 2015-16.

Alistair Burt: Confirmation of the spending outturn against all expenditure limits will be provided in the Department of Health’s Annual Report and Accounts 2015-16, due to be published in July 2016.

HIV Infection: Drugs

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, for what reason his Department decided not to proceed with the launch of a public consultation on pre-exposure prophylaxis; and when that decision was taken.

Jane Ellison: NHS England is in the process of reconsidering its decision in relation to the commissioning of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) by the end of May. The outcome of the decision will be communicated by NHS England with stakeholders following the meeting and will determine whether NHS England will then conduct any form of public consultation on the commissioning of PrEP.

NHS: Coroners

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much the NHS has incurred in costs for legal advice and representations at inquests, by cause of death, in each year since 2010.

Ben Gummer: This information is not available centrally.

Antidepressants

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many prescriptions for anti-depressants were dispensed in each region in each year since 2010.

Alistair Burt: Prescribing data for anti-depressants is available at prescription item level. On a prescription form, each item written on the form is counted as a single prescription item. Data is available for each financial year from 2011/12 to 2015/16 and is shown in the table below. Antidepressants prescription items dispensed in the community in NHS England regions in England by financial year, as defined by British National Formulary section 4.3 Antidepressant drugs.Prescription items (000’s)NHS England Region NameFinancial 2011/12Financial 2012/13Financial 2013/14Financial 2014/15Financial 2015/16South (Wessex)2,513.02,643.92,841.32,989.13,147.0London4,289.44,532.84,862.75,166.55,463.3North (Yorkshire And Humber)5,365.75,706.46,130.06,583.47,044.6North (Lancashire And Greater Manchester)4,585.04,846.75,197.65,540.85,870.2North (Cumbria And North East)3,989.84,240.34,560.84,917.55,258.6North (Cheshire And Merseyside)2,665.32,833.33,034.53,234.73,458.2Midlands And East (North Midlands)3,167.73,368.73,617.93,890.84,146.9Midlands And East (West Midlands)3,157.83,348.23,577.83,838.44,102.3Midlands And East (Central Midlands)3,822.14,086.74,363.94,703.35,036.6Midlands And East (East)4,224.94,496.94,879.35,221.75,600.0South (South West)3,035.93,241.83,484.53,737.53,982.9South (South East)3,636.13,874.24,112.44,351.24,592.1South (South Central)2,933.43,076.63,280.63,504.43,706.2Unidentified19.837.764.491.0150.9England 147,405.850,334.254,007.557,770.161,559.7Source: The Prescribing Analysis and CosT tool (PACT) system provided by the NHS Business Services AuthorityNote:1 Totals may not add up due to rounding.

Infectious Diseases

Heidi Alexander: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how much funding his Department will make available for Public Health England's awareness campaign on the symptoms of serious infections; and what proportion of that funding will be spent on sepsis awareness.

Jane Ellison: The Department funds Public Health England to undertake a range of social marketing campaigns to support behaviour change and public awareness. This work will be funded within the annual budget as will the work on other infections, such as influenza, as well as non-infectious diseases. Further planning work will be undertaken to determine the budget for this activity.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Iron and Steel: Research

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment he has made of the potential contribution of innovation, research and development to the future viability of the British steel industry.

Anna Soubry: The UK is a world leader in advanced manufacturing sectors such as automotive and aerospace, which continue to grow rapidly. These industries all require high value, continually improving steel products in order to remain competitive, and therefore innovation will continue to play an important role in the future of the UK steel industry. The Steel Council recognises this; UK Steel are leading the Future Capacity and Capabilities working group which is currently undertaking work to better identify where innovation and R&D is needed to meet future requirements for steel products, and how industry and Government can work together to support this.Since 2010 we have been supporting the steel sector by offering grants totalling £29 million and loans totalling £33 million towards projects including:o The development of facilities, such as the R&D centre at Warwick University.o Development of new products.o And investment in training, skills and apprenticeships.

Tata Steel

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he has taken to (a) improve customer confidence in and (b) ensure continuity of client contracts with Tata steel.

Anna Soubry: Tata have confirmed to us that they working closely with all of their customers and suppliers at this time, and HMG is supporting Tata to make sure that their customers and suppliers are fully aware of all the efforts the Government is making to secure a sale of their UK facilities.The Government has also written a letter to Tata’s supply chain and customers highlighting our commitment to the UK steel sector, and the steps we are taking to support the industry.

Iron and Steel: Antidumping

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what powers are available to his Department to restrict dumping of steel imports in the UK; and which of those powers he has used.

Anna Soubry: Trade defence is an EU competence. The EU’s anti-dumping procedures are set out in Council Regulation (EC) No 1225/2009 (the EU’s basic anti-dumping Regulation). The process is mainly initiated following requests from EU producers to the Commission. The Commission is responsible for considering requests for and, if appropriate, opening anti-dumping investigations. The UK, or any other EU member state, cannot unilaterally impose tariffs.It is for industry to demonstrate prima facie evidence of dumping to the European Commission. We encourage industry to present this evidence to the Commission where they have evidence of dumping. Where evidence is sufficient to justify an investigation the Commission will do so and present any proposals for imposing duties to Member States.The Government stands ready to assist all parts of UK industry in making its case to the Commission and has actively lobbied the Commission in support of UK steel producers in a number of recent cases, including reinforcing bar and cold-rolled flat products.

Iron and Steel: Manufacturing Industries

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of a UK withdrawal from the EU on the British steel industry.

Anna Soubry: The UK is stronger, safer, and better off in a reformed EU, and this very much applies to our steel industry. The EU is our most important market for steel, buying over half our steel exports, and it is a powerful voice pushing for fair international trading conditions. Our membership provides access to a vast open market with a good system that balances the interests of producers and users. Outside the EU, we could find ourselves on the receiving end of EU tariffs, which would result in additional costs for the UK steel industry. In addition, we would be less able to defend ourselves against unfair competition from third countries. The Commission now has a record 37 measures against steel products, 16 of which are on Chinese imports.

Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what representations the Government has made to the European Commission on provisional implementation of the EU-Canada trade agreement.

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make it his policy to oppose the provisional implementation of the EU-Canada trade agreement when it is discussed at the EU Foreign Affairs Council in June 2016.

Anna Soubry: The EU–Canada Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) will deliver jobs and growth for the UK, with independent analysis suggesting the deal could be worth up to £1.3 billion per year to the UK economy.We expect CETA to be a “mixed” agreement, covering areas of both EU and Member State competence. In this case, the EU Council could decide to provisionally apply the parts of CETA which fall within EU competence. The Government supports this approach as it will allow the UK to benefit from provisions such as reduced duties on imports and exports as soon as possible. This has been discussed with the European Commission on a number of occasions, most at the Trade Foreign Affairs Council that took place in Brussels this month. The Council will negotiate which provisions of CETA should be applied provisionally by the EU once the final text has been received.

Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what plans the Government has for parliamentary scrutiny of the EU-Canada trade agreement; and whether the Government will bring that agreement to the House for a vote.

Anna Soubry: We expect that the EU–Canada Comprehensive and Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) will be a “mixed” agreement, covering areas of both EU and Member State competence. In that case, it will be subject to agreement by each EU Member State, the EU Council and the European Parliament. As part of this process the agreement will be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny before it is ratified by the UK. The complete draft text of the agreement would be laid before Parliament for at least 21 sitting days during which time MPs and Lords may debate the treaty in either or both Houses and vote against the proposed ratification. For the parts of the agreement within UK competence, the proposals for a Council decision on signature and, subsequently, conclusion will be subject to scrutiny in both Houses of the UK Parliament. In practice EU trade agreements which contain a mixture of EU and Member State competence are agreed by consensus, this means the UK must agree before the treaty can fully come into force.

Iron and Steel: Import Duties

Kevin Brennan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will make a comparative assessment of the effect of tariffs on steel imports in the EU and the US.

Anna Soubry: Each anti-dumping case is different. Moreover the levels of dumping and injury occurring in EU and US markets may be very different. The Government examines the evidence in all EU anti-dumping cases closely before taking a view.The Government believes that effective trade defence measures should be proportionate, not protectionist, and strike a balance between removing the injury to producers caused by dumping, and avoiding imposing unnecessary costs on user industries, retailers, consumers and the rest of the economy. The evidence we have to date is that duties that have been imposed on imports of Chinese steel into the EU have been effective in delivering rapid, substantial and sustained reductions in imports. For example, imports of wire rod, organic coated steel and stainless steel flat products are down by more than 90%.Where the European Commission has set duties that we believe to be too low to remove the injury caused to EU industry by dumped imports, we will push for them to be increased, as we have done in the reinforcing bar and cold rolled flat products cases.

Higher Education: Admissions

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether UK citizens will have the rights that currently apply to access higher education in the EU in the event of the UK leaving the EU and prior to the completion of exit negotiations under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

Joseph Johnson: The procedure governing a country’s departure from the EU is set out in Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. This provides for a period of two years for the negotiation of exit terms. The EU Treaties would continue to apply to the departing Member State until the Article 50 agreement had entered into force, or for two years if no agreement had been reached and no extension to the two year period had been granted. A request for an extension could only be granted with the unanimous agreement of the remaining Member States. The Government's position is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.

Overseas Trade

John Woodcock: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what (a) discussions and (b) meetings each Minister named as part of the UK Trade and Investment Strategic Relations programme overseen by his Department has had with their paired businesses listed in that scheme since 7 May 2015.

Anna Soubry: The UK Trade and Investment Strategic Relations (SRM) programme has a coordination role across government to encourage better communication between the various departments in government and businesses. More information, including a list of the 86 companies involved and contact Ministers can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/ukti-strategic-relations-team Details of Ministerial meetings, including with SRM companies, are published quarterly on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?keywords=ministerial+meetings&publication_filter_option=transparency-data&topics%5B%5D=all&departments%5B%5D=all&official_document_status=all&world_locations%5B%5D=all&from_date=&to_date=

Universities: Antisemitism

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what steps he has taken to tackle anti-Semitism in English universities.

Joseph Johnson: There is no place in our society, including higher education, for anti-Semitism or any other form of bigotry, hatred and racism. We expect universities to act swiftly to investigate and address any anti-Semitic incidents reported to them. Responsibilities for ensuring students do not face harassment, abuse or violence rests with individual institutions, as a clear part of their duties under the 2010 Equality Act.At the request of the Government, Universities UK have set up a taskforce to consider what more can be done to address harassment on campus, including on the basis of religion and belief. The taskforce has had meetings with or received evidence from a wide range of organisations which include the Union of Jewish Students, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and Community Security Trust.The taskforce is expected to report its findings in the autumn but has already identified the need for an improved data collection of incidents by institutions, to ensure universities are recording incidents effectively; the importance of complaints procedures that protect the identity of students who may be fearful of coming forward; and the need for better training for staff to respond to instances of harassment.

Students: Disability

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will take steps to ensure that academic staff are aware of their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 to make provision for the needs of disabled students.

Joseph Johnson: Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have clear legal responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to support their students, including those with disabilities.The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has produced a range of guidance for institutions on their obligations under the Equality Act 2010, including technical guidance setting out the detail of the law.Guidance is also produced by the Equality Challenge Unit (ECU), a higher education sector body that supports equality and diversity for staff and students across the UK, including for disabled staff and students on managing “reasonable adjustments”. The ECU also published a report on the implications for institutions of the key issues contained in the Equality Act 2010.In addition, to support higher education providers to prepare for the changes to Disabled Students’ Allowances that come into effect from academic year 2016/17, the Department has facilitated the establishment of a senior sector-led group. The group’s focus is communication with senior leaders of higher education providers, including provision of information about their responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments for disabled students.

Students: Disability

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will allow the Quality Assurance Agency to include an assessment of how well universities are meeting the needs of disabled students in their remit.

Joseph Johnson: The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone with the potential has the opportunity to benefit from higher education, irrespective of their background or mode of learning. In the last year we saw record numbers of applicants and entrants to higher education, and record application rates among students from disadvantaged backgrounds.Universities expect to spend more than £745 million through access agreements agreed with the Director of Fair Access on measures to improve access and success for students from disadvantaged groups, including disabled students - up significantly from £404 million in 2009.Under the Equality Act 2010, higher education institutions have a role and responsibility for promoting equality, including for students with disabilities.The UK Quality Code promotes an inclusive approach by embedding consideration of equality and diversity throughout higher education institutions. Promoting equality for disabled students can include eliminating arbitrary and unnecessary barriers to learning and offering learning opportunities that are equally accessible to them. The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) looks for evidence that universities promote equality when making assessments of higher education institutions in line with the UK Quality Code.

Leasehold

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what data the Land Registry holds on the number of leasehold domestic properties in (a) the London Borough of Harrow and (b) England in each of the last 10 years.

Anna Soubry: The data requested is on the attached spreadsheet. Land Registry has also provided data relating to both the number of leasehold titles and the number of transactions affecting leasehold titles in Harrow and in England in each of the last 10 years. 



Attachment to 38043
(Excel SpreadSheet, 12.06 KB)

Higher Education

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to his Department's White Paper, Success as a knowledge economy: teaching excellence, social mobility and student choice, published on 16 May 2016, what the minimum number of (a) students and (b) higher education students is which any new provider would have to have registered at their institution in order to be granted university teaching powers.

Joseph Johnson: The Government’s intention is that – as now – in order to be eligible for taught degree awarding powers a provider must have the majority of its higher education students enrolled on study programmes which are recognised as being at level 6 or above of the Framework of Higher Education Qualifications for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This requirement will be set out in detailed criteria and guidance on degree awarding powers on which there will be a consultation in due course.

Higher Education

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to his Department's White Paper, Success as a knowledge economy: teaching excellence, social mobility and student choice, published on 16 May 2016, what estimate his Department has made of the cost to higher education providers of the proposed student protection scheme.

Joseph Johnson: The Higher Education and Research Bill will require all registered higher education providers to put in place student protection plans. These plans will ensure that students are able to continue to achieve their academic outcomes in the event of the provider not being able to fully deliver their course. An Impact Assessment will be published shortly.

Higher Education

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to his Department's White Paper, Success as a knowledge economy: teaching excellence, social mobility and student choice, published on 16 May 2016, what assessment his Department has made of the potential level of subscriptions which higher education providers will contribute to fund the Office for Students.

Joseph Johnson: The Impact Assessment for the Higher Education and Research Bill will be published shortly. It will include estimates of the total contribution of higher education providers towards the costs of Office for Students. The Government will consult on the specific structure of the registration fees to ensure they are fair and affordable for the higher education providers.

Higher Education

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, with reference to his Department's White Paper, Success as a knowledge economy: teaching excellence, social mobility and student choice, published on 16 May 2016, what discussions he has had with the devolved administrations on the effect of the establishment of UK Research and Innovation on their policies and funding.

Joseph Johnson: My officials have discussed the proposals in the White Paper, including the creation of UK Research and Innovation, with the Devolved Administrations. I look forward to continuing these discussions with my counterparts.

Arms Trade: Saudi Arabia

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will suspend the sale of arms to countries of the Saudi Arabian-led military coalition following the coalition's alleged use of cluster munitions in the Yemen conflict.

Anna Soubry: The UK Government takes its export control responsibilities very seriously. All export licence applications are carefully assessed on a case by case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. A licence will not be issued if to do so would be inconsistent with any provision of the Criteria. The suspension of licences will be considered by my Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills in circumstances where in the light of new evidence and information it would be considered that a proper risk assessment against the Consolidated Criteria would be difficult. At this time he considers that he does have sufficient information from a range of sources for a proper risk assessment to be made against the Criteria. The UK ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions on 4 May 2010 and does not licence the export of these weapons.

Cluster Munitions: Exports

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether any cluster bombs have been exported under licence from the UK to Saudi Arabia or Yemen since 1989.

Anna Soubry: Our electronic records show that since 1999 no licences have been granted to Saudi Arabia or Yemen for cluster bombs.Paper records prior to 1999 can only be searched at disproportionate cost.

Ministry of Defence

Military Bases: Religious Buildings

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 9 May 2016 to Question 35843, whether chapels owned and administered by the Ministry of Defence are part of the pilot project exploring the registration of civil marriages and partnerships, including same-sex unions.

Penny Mordaunt: No chapels owned or administered by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) are part of the pilot project exploring the registration of civil marriages and partnerships or same-sex unions. The MOD supports same-sex marriage and is committed to ensuring that couples are not disadvantaged by their service. We have concluded a study of serving LGBT personnel to obtain their view on this matter. Should a same-sex military couple wish to have a civil marriage ceremony on the Defence Estate, it is a requirement that the same access must be granted to all members of the public. The project is attempting to indentify suitable sites for this purpose. Should a same-sex couple from the Armed Forces wish to get married in a military Chapel they must follow the rules surrounding the marriage of same sex couples (Military or Civilian) in Military chapels, which are laid out in 'The Marriage of Same Sex Couples (Use of Armed Forces' Chapels) Regulations 2014'. At present none of the Churches that send Chaplains to the Armed Forces have opted into the provision of marriage for same-sex couples. Some may seek to change their policy in the future.

Armed Forces: Eastern Europe

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many UK military personnel are currently deployed to NATO force integration units in (a) Bulgaria, (b) Estonia, (c) Latvia, (d) Lithuania, (e) Poland and (f) Romania.

Penny Mordaunt: The UK has one officer in each of the six NATO Force Integration Units.

Submarines: Arctic

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many occasions a Royal Navy submarine was deployed to the Arctic region in each of the last six years.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the capacity of the Royal Navy's Astute-class submarines for under-ice operations.

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Royal Navy personnel took part in under-ice training in each of the   last six years.

Penny Mordaunt: The Astute class submarines are the largest, most advanced and most powerful attack submarines ever operated by the Royal Navy, combining world-leading sensors, design and weaponry in a versatile vessel. The Royal Navy maintains world-wide deployability with its submarines, this includes under-ice capability. We do not discuss the detail of such submarine operations, as this would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

Armed Forces: Accidents

Brendan O'Hara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the Section 104 Order covering fatal accident inquiry military deaths will come into force.

Penny Mordaunt: The Section 104 Order aims to make a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) mandatory for any Service personnel who are killed in the course of their duties in Scotland. This provision will bring Scotland in line with the equivalent position in England and Wales. The Order is scheduled to be made in December 2016 subject to agreement from both UK and Scottish Ministers.

EUFOR: Finance

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the UK's financial commitment to the EUFOR has been in each of the last three years.

Mr Julian Brazier: EUFOR ALTHEA is a European Union Common Security and Defence Policy operation, conducted under EU-NATO Berlin Plus arrangements, that contributes to a safe and secure environment in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The Government regards it as a central part of its policy towards BiH. The UK committed £3.1 million in 2013, £2.8 million in 2014, and £1.9 million in 2015 to the operation.

Mediterranean Sea: Human Trafficking

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the UK's naval contribution to EU anti-people trafficking operations in the Mediterranean.

Penny Mordaunt: The UK is contributing HMS ENTERPRISE to Operation SOPHIA and eight staff to the Operational Headquarters. HMS ENTERPRISE has been valuable in developing a picture of the maritime environment and smuggling routes. UK assets have destroyed 27 vessels to prevent re-use and identified nine smugglers to the Italian authorities. Furthermore, UK ships have rescued over a quarter of the total number of migrants saved by the entire operation - 3,700 out of 13,700. More broadly, we assess that Operation SOPHIA has left the smugglers unable to operate with impunity in international waters. This is progress on which we can build. We remain committed to working with the Libyan Government of National Accord to move to the later phases of the operation once the right conditions are in place and prevent the smugglers from putting people to sea.

Arms Trade: EU Internal Trade

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the value of the UK defence industry's total exports to the EU in each of the last three years.

Mr Philip Dunne: Official Government statistics do not differentiate exports to the European region between EU and non-EU countries. In 2013, UK defence exports to the European region accounted for 12% of total sales by value, approximately £1.3 billion. In 2014, UK defence exports to the European region accounted for 10% of total sales by value, approximately £800 million. Official statistics for 2015 will be released later this year.

Ministry of Defence: Public Expenditure

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential effect on his Department's expenditure of the UK leaving the EU.

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what operational contingency plan his Department has made in the event of the UK leaving the EU.

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding the Government provided for the EU battlegroup in each year since 2010.

Michael Fallon: None.

Yemen: Cluster Munitions

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 15 March 2016 to Question 30727, what knowledge UK military personnel based in the command and control centre for Saudi Arabian airstrikes in Yemen had on the alleged use of cluster munitions in that conflict.

Michael Fallon: The UK is aware that Saudi Arabia has used cluster munitions in the current conflict in Yemen, as the Saudis have themselves publicly confirmed.Based on all the information available to us we assess that no UK-supplied cluster weapons have been used, nor have UK-supplied aircraft been involved in the use of cluster weapons, in the current conflict in Yemen.

Armed Forces: GCSE

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what opportunities the Department offers to trainee soldiers under the age of 18 to re-sit GCSEs as part of their elective personal development.

Mark Lancaster: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 23 May to Question number 37109.



QnA extract on Armed Forces GCSEs
(Word Document, 15.23 KB)

Saudi Arabia: Military Aid

Stephen Doughty: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 21 January 2016 to Question 23632, whether UK military personnel providing training and education for military personnel in Saudi Arabia on the subjects of compliance with international humanitarian law and transparency address the use of cluster munitions.

Michael Fallon: We have provided education and training courses to Saudi Arabian military personnel under existing Government-to-Government arrangements. These courses expose Saudi military personnel to UK policy, compliance with International Humanitarian Law and the conventions relating to the Law of Armed Conflict. We take our obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions seriously and continue to encourage Saudi Arabia, as a non-party to the Convention, to accede to it.

Yemen: Cluster Munitions

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether cluster bombs used in the Yemeni civil war are of British manufacture.

Mr Philip Dunne: I refer the hon. Member to the response I gave to the Urgent Question tabled by the hon. Member for Ochil and South Perthshire (Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh) on 24 May 2016 (Official Report, column 401).



Hansard extract on Yemen: Cluster Munitions
(Word Document, 32.77 KB)

Ministry of Defence: Food

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 15 July 2013 to Question 164762, what the annual budget is for food produced for his Department's offices; and what proportion of food produced for his Department was sourced from British producers in the latest period for which figures are available.

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 15 July 2013 to Question 164762, what the annual budget is for food produced for the armed forces; and what proportion of food produced for the armed forces was sourced from British producers in the latest period for which figures are available.

Mr Philip Dunne: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Armed Forces: Basic Skills

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Answer of 25 April 2016 to Question 34910, what qualifications are required by his Department for English and mathematics tutors teaching functional skills in numeracy and literacy.

Mark Lancaster: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 23 May 2016 to Question 37111.



QnA extract on Armed Forces GCSEs
(Word Document, 15.14 KB)

Ministry of Defence: Pay

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average hourly earnings were of his Department's (a) BME and (b) non-BME employees in (i) 2015 and (ii) 2016.

Penny Mordaunt: The information requested is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

South China Sea

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential security implications of China's naval expansion into the South China Sea; and what steps his Department is taking in response to such expansion.

Michael Fallon: The UK is concerned about tensions in the South China Sea and the effect that these could have on regional peace and security and global prosperity. We have every interest in maintaining regional stability, respect for freedom of navigation and freedom of overflight. We call on all parties to refrain from activity likely to raise tensions, including land reclamation, construction and militarisation. We urge all parties to exercise restraint and behave responsibly, employing dialogue and diplomacy rather than force or coercion.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Housing: Older People

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what monitoring his Department has undertaken of the adequacy of supply of suitable and affordable accommodation for older people who want to live independently but with some support on-site.

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what guidance his Department issues to local authorities on meeting the health and social care needs of older people who need affordable and accessible homes where they can live independently but with support when needed.

Brandon Lewis: Decisions on how to meet the health and social care needs of older people who need affordable and accessible homes and monitoring the supply of such accommodation are best made by local authorities. Government believes that local planning authorities remain best placed to determine the extent to which provision of more accessible housing is necessary and appropriate in their local area, and have appropriate powers to introduce development plan policies to meet these needs, having regard to the National Planning Policy Framework, Planning Guidance and other relevant matters.The National Planning Policy Framework & Planning Guidance requires local authorities to plan for a mix of housing based on current and future demographic trends, and the needs of different groups, including elderly people, in their area.

Floods: Urban Areas

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to work with local authorities whose areas  experienced flooding over winter 2015-16 in order to support their local high street economy.

James Wharton: DCLG launched a funding package in December worth £100 million to directly support flooded householders and businesses by:launching the Bellwin Fund so that local authorities incurring costs over the threshold can apply;making a grant of up to £500 for each household available through local authorities to help with recovery costs;exempting households from paying council tax for the entire time they are out of their home;making a grant equivalent to £2,500 per business available through local authorities to help businesses to recover from loss of trade;and giving business rates relief to those that have had their trading disrupted.Our Recovery Package also supports homes and businesses to protect their properties against future floods through the Property Level Resilience Scheme.In addition to this bespoke recovery package, we’re taking action to help high streets thrive through a range of targeted tax breaks, sensible planning changes and measures to ensure fairer parking for motorists. At the Budget, we announced the biggest ever cut in business rates in England – worth £6.7 billion over the next five years and cutting business rates for all ratepayers, meaning 600,000 of the smallest businesses won’t have to pay business rates again.

Housing: Older People

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to ensure that there is a sufficient supply of single-storey housing for occupation by elderly people; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: The National Planning Policy Framework and planning guidance requires local authorities to plan for a mix of housing based on current and future demographic trends, and the needs of different groups in their area. This includes housing suitable for occupation by elderly people.

Coastal Communities Fund

Mr Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 9 May 2016 to Question 36275, if he will make it his policy to ensure that disbursements from the Coastal Communities Fund are allocated to the regions of England on the basis of population share.

Mr Mark Francois: Our policy is that every coastal community should have the chance to bid for a share of the Coastal Communities Fund to help them with projects that will have a real and lasting impact on their local economy. The 118 Coastal Community Teams (CCTs) in England now provide an important new local context for considering these bids, so that the Fund helps to deliver community-led Economic Plans. Each bid is considered on its merits and allocating the Fund to regions on the basis of their population share would not necessarily ensure best value for money.

Owner Occupation

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer of 12 May 2016 to Question 33770, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of households that will own their home in each of the next 10 years; and if he will make a statement.

Brandon Lewis: The Department for Communities and Local Government does not publish forecasts of home ownership. However, the Government’s manifesto pledged to help one million more people own a home of their own. The Housing & Planning Act will underpin a number of measures, such as the introduction of Starter Homes, which will help achieve this.

Local Enterprise Partnerships

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Answer of 26 April 2016 to Question 34525, if he will publish the (a) outcomes of his Department's regular discussions with local enterprise partnerships on their progress with local growth programmes and (b) annual performance review with the Local Enterprise Partnership.

James Wharton: We are clear in the Local Enterprise Partnership Assurance Framework that Local Enterprise Partnerships should operate transparently, giving people confidence that decisions made are proper, based on evidence, and capable of being independently scrutinised. How each Local Enterprise Partnership will achieve this is set out in their local assurance framework. In accordance with this approach, Government does not publish outcomes of regular discussions with Local Enterprise Partnerships or of annual reviews.

Right to Buy Scheme: Housing Associations

Toby Perkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if the Government will extend the Right to Buy discount to housing association tenants who already own a share of their property.

Brandon Lewis: As is the case with the existing Right to Buy, the voluntary agreement with housing associations and the National Housing Federation to extend Right to Buy discounts to housing association tenants will not apply to those people who already own a share in their home.

Scotland Office

Scotland Office: Food

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what the annual budget is for food produced for his Department's offices; and what proportion of food produced for his Department was sourced from British producers in the last period for which figures are available.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office has no in-house catering facilities and the provision of food is generally limited to catering associated with official hospitality and is supplied by external contractors. The Office does not separately record the proportion of food sourced from British Producers used by its external caterers.

Dover House

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many public engagement events to increase understanding of (a) Scottish issues in general and (b) the Scottish Parliament have been held at Dover House in the last 12 months.

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many public engagement events to support the voluntary sector in Scotland have been held at Dover House in the last 12 months.

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many public engagement events to support (a) Scotland's place in the world and (b) the reputation of Scotland internationally have been held at Dover House in the last 12 months.

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many public engagement events to support the enterprise, business and produce sector in Scotland have been held at Dover House in the last 12 months.

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how many public engagement events to support the cultural sector in Scotland have been held at Dover House in the last 12 months.

David Mundell: A variety of events are held in Dover House, both by Scotland Office Ministers and by third parties, throughout the year.The events are aimed at engaging stakeholders on a wide variety of policy issues and aspects of life in Scotland.

Scotland Office: Pay

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what the average hourly earnings were of his Department's (a) BME and (b) non-BME employees in (i) 2015 and (ii) 2016.

David Mundell: The Scotland Office does not employ staff directly. All staff that join, do so on assignment, loan or secondment from other government bodies, principally the Ministry of Justice and the Scottish Government, who remain the employer. Detailed information in relation to average hourly earnings of BME and non-BME staff would be a matter for these bodies. The Scotland office does not hold the information requested.

Women and Equalities

Females: Directors

David Mackintosh: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what recent steps she has taken to increase the number of women represented on the executive boards of FTSE 100 companies.

Caroline Dinenage: I am delighted that we exceeded Lord Davies’s target of 25% women on boards of the FTSE 100 last year. However, we know that there is more to be done, and we will support and promote Lord Davies’s recommendation for a business-led 33% target for FTSE 350 boards by 2020. That’s why we’ve appointed Sir Philip Hampton, Chair of GlaxoSmithKline, and Dame Helen Alexander, Chair of UBM plc, as Chair and Deputy Chair of a new review which will focus on increasing the number of women in the executive layer of the FTSE 350.

Department for Transport

Rolling Stock: Procurement

Ben Howlett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has made a decision on the proposed conversion of Class 801 Intercity Express Programme units to bi-mode diesel operation.

Claire Perry: Following the receipt of a formal proposal from Agility Trains West Ltd, My Rt Hon Friend, the Secretary of State for Transport has now approved the conversion of the 21 Class 801 Intercity Express Programme units scheduled for deployment on the Great Western to bi-mode operation. This will enable passengers in the South West and Wales to benefit as soon as possible from brand new trains which will deliver more capacity and more comfort. The first 36 trains will be bi-mode as planned.

Railways: Standards

David Mackintosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to tackle the performance of those train companies that scored low marks in the Office of Rail and Road's mystery shopping exercise on delay compensation, reported on in March 2016.

Claire Perry: The Department is already working closely with the ORR and the Association of Train Operating Companies to bring about improvements to passenger compensation arrangements. The Department will consider the results of the mystery shopping as part of its response to the ORR’s report into the Which? super-complaint in the summer of 2016. I also understand the ORR has followed up the results of the mystery shopping exercise with each Train Operating Company. It intends to assess the level of improvement by carrying out a further survey in due course, as set out in its March 2016 report. The ORR will publish the mystery shopper results alongside its first annual report on consumers, titled ‘Measuring Up’, shortly.

Transport: Infrastructure

Luke Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much was spent by the Government on transport infrastructure projects nationally in 2010-11.

Luke Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much was spent by the Government on transport infrastructure projects nationally in 2011-12.

Luke Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much was spent by the Government on transport infrastructure projects nationally in 2013-14.

Luke Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much was spent by the Government on transport infrastructure projects nationally in 2012-13.

Luke Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much was spent by the Government on transport infrastructure projects nationally in 2014-15.

Luke Hall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much was spent by the Government on transport infrastructure projects nationally in 2015-16.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The total capital expenditure of the Department for Transport in the years 2010/11 to 2015/16 is shown in the table below. £millions2010/112011/122012/132013/142014/1512015/162Capital DEL7,2997,6867,8288,4605,5016,119Capital AME----6,6957,754Total Capital Expenditure7,2997,6537,7678,47212,19613,872  Notes  DEL = Departmental Expenditure Limit AME = Annually Managed Expenditure  1. Network Rail was reclassified into the public sector during the 2014/15 financial year and its Capital spending is reported in full in AME from that year onwards. For earlier years, the department's Capital grant to Network Rail (which funded some but not all of its spending) was reported in DEL. The approximate effect of this change was to increase reported spending by between £2.5bn and £3.0bn per year from 2014/15 onwards, relative to the previous arrangements.  2. Figures for 2015/16 are published budgets for the year. Outturn figures will be available when the 2015/16 annual report and accounts is published later in the year. These figures do not include spending by Transport for London and other local government bodies, or by the devolved administrations. This information is taken from the Core Tables of the department’s 2014/15 annual report and accounts, which are published here:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/440269/dft-annual-report-and-accounts-2014-to-2015-_web-version_.pdf

Parking

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on his review of the legal and financial implications of an alternative pavement parking regime.

Andrew Jones: I chaired a roundtable meeting with stakeholders in March to discuss the practical, legal and financial implications of a possible alternative enforcement regime for pavement parking in England, outside London. The Department aims to build the evidence base on this issue over coming months working with local authorities and other interested parties. The outcome of this work will inform consideration of options later in the year.

Blue Badge Scheme

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the Blue Badge concession to include off-street parking.

Andrew Jones: We have no plans to extend Blue Badge concessions to off-street parking. The scheme is designed to ensure that disabled people can find suitable parking on public roads – whether it be in bays, at meters or on yellow lines – close to where they need to go. Off-street parking is a completely different matter; these are often privately owned and their terms of use are a matter for the car park owners, but disabled parking bays are usually available.

Driving under Influence: Drugs

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what evidence his Department holds on the effect of the number of roadside drug testing on the number of traffic accidents; and what assessment he has made of improvements in road safety since the introduction of roadside drug testing.

Andrew Jones: The Department has contracted a researcher to evaluate the effect and impact on road safety of the new section 5A offence, which will include the use of roadside testing. We expect to publish their final report in 2017. The effectiveness of the recent THINK! 2016 drug drive spring campaign which refers to the use of roadside drug testing will also be evaluated and a report will be published in the summer 2016.

Railways: Cumbria

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the expected date is for completion of the electrification of the Windermere Branch Line.

Andrew Jones: In Sir Peter Hendy’s review, Network Rail has made clear that the Oxenholme to Windermere electrification scheme will be delivered, with a target of March 2017 for selection of a single option. Work is progressing on this scheme. The programme for delivery will be detailed when the single option is known.

West Coast Railway Line: Passengers

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of passengers travelling on the West Coast Main Line in each year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: There are no published statistics on the annual number of passengers travelling on the West Coast Main Line. Statistics for the train operators serving the West Coast Main Line stations are available on the Office of Rail and Road data portal at the following link: http://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/browsereports/12.

Railway Stations: Coventry

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of passengers travelling (a) from and (b) to Coventry railway station in each year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: The number of passenger travelling from and to Coventry railway station are as follows:YearTo Coventry stationFrom Coventry station2014/153,126,4443,126,4442013/142,980,5352,980,5352012/132,820,3262,820,3262011/122,727,8302,727,8302010/112,577,8782,577,8782009/102,403,7562,403,7562008/0912,259,9282,259,9282007/081,524,1461,515,3972006/071,443,4471,431,4812005/061,365,5491,353,4852004/051,175,9991,183,6432003/04[Data not recorded]2002/031,178,9141,170,7552001/021,122,0701,120,8082000/011,127,0711,128,7141999/001,169,3001,163,5601998/991,209,5941,205,5821997/981,056,3541,054,183Source: Office of Rail and Road, Estimates of Station Usage 1This increase could be due to a methodological change in the statistics, rather than an actual increase in passenger numbers.

West Coast Railway Line: Franchises

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the total number of its full-time equivalent officials who are working on the consultation on the InterCity West Coast rail franchise; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: The consultation process is being run by 1 FTE who is part of the ICWC franchise team, with a team of 3-6 officials assisting with each of the planned 11 station events which are scheduled to last between two and a half to four and a half hours each with 2-3 officials assisting at multi-stakeholder regional events also for between two and a half to four and a half hours each.

Transport: North of England

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to page 73 of the background document to the Queen's Speech 2016, published on 18 May 2016, what the £15 billion for transport across the North in this Parliament will be spent on.

Andrew Jones: The Department for Transport has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Air Space

Dr Tania Mathias: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government is taking steps to reduce the number of flights between non-UK airports entering UK airspace.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Government is not seeking to reduce the number of overflights in UK airspace. The ability to overfly UK airspace is a freedom of the air which we have granted to other signatories of the International Air Services Transit Agreement as well as non-signatory States on a bilateral basis.

Volkswagen

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Answer of 1 March 2016 to Question 27610, on Volkswagen, what response he has received from Volkswagen on the difference in compensation offered to US and UK customers.

Andrew Jones: We continue to engage with Volkswagen on the issue of compensation for UK consumers. The Secretary of State summoned the Managing Director of VW UK to a further meeting earlier this month to discuss the issue. Volkswagen’s position is that there is no evidence that drivers in the UK have suffered a loss, and so they maintain there is no need for compensation.

Railways: North of England

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress has been made on selecting a route for high speed rail across the Pennines.

Andrew Jones: In the recent 2016 Northern Transport Strategy Spring Update, Transport for the North published some of the emerging options for Northern Powerhouse Rail, including new lines and major upgrades across the Pennines. By the end of the year, Transport for the North and the Department for Transport will have established a more detailed view of the potential route options for Northern Powerhouse Rail, their capabilities, and their costs and benefits, providing the evidence base for prioritising route options.

East Coast Railway Line: Yorkshire and the Humber

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Long Term Economic Plan for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, published in February 2015, what progress has been made on assessing the case for providing the required infrastructure for new East Coast InterCity Express trains to run at 140 mph.

Claire Perry: The complex infrastructure requirements for 140mph operation on the East Coast Main Line are being assessed by Virgin Trains East Coast and the wider rail industry as a potential scheme for the longer term. Nicola Shaw’s recent report promoted greater private sector financing for railway enhancements and my Department will be interested to see these proposals from the industry in due course.

Thameslink Railway Line: Rolling Stock

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects the first Thameslink Class 700 train to enter revenue-earning service.

Claire Perry: The new Class 700 Thameslink trains built by Siemens will first enter service on the Brighton to Bedford route. It is important that when the trains are introduced that they operate reliably on these heavily used sections of the rail network. It is to this end that the trains are currently undergoing extensive testing on the Thameslink routes. They are also being used for driver training by Govia Thameslink Railway Ltd and operational testing of new infrastructure at stations on the Thameslink routes. This phase of testing is nearing completion and the trains are expected to enter passenger service in due course.

Ports

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on maritime exports from UK ports to the EU of the UK voting to leave the EU.

Mr Robert Goodwill: At the February European Council, the Government negotiated a new settlement, giving the United Kingdom a special status in a reformed European Union. The Government's position is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU. If the outcome of the EU Referendum is a vote to leave, the effect on maritime exports from UK ports to the EU would depend on the relationship agreed between the EU and the UK. This would have to be negotiated using the detailed processes set out in the EU Treaty. The Government has published several information documents, setting out the Government's views on UK membership of the EU, the process for withdrawing from the EU and alternatives to EU membership. The documents can be viewed at www.eureferendum.gov.uk.

Space Technology

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the overall cost to the public purse of his Department's work on the consideration of the potential site for a UK spaceport.

Mr Robert Goodwill: During the Queen’s Speech Transport debate on 19 May, the Secretary of State noted that a range of viable spaceport options had been put forward and that the Department supported those bids. The Secretary of State also set out that the Modern Transport Bill will create the right framework for the market to select what the best location for a UK spaceport will be. The Government’s ambition is that the United Kingdom’s space economy should account for 10% of the global space economy by 2030 - worth some £40 billion per year. In support of this innovative sector, the Department, working with the Civil Aviation Authority, UK Space Agency and interested businesses, has allocated nearly £3.3m within this Parliament to legislate and establish a safe regulatory framework to enable commercial spaceflight in the UK.

Rolling Stock: Procurement

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the overall financial value is of rolling stock orders placed by franchised operators since May 2010; and what the overall financial value is of such orders for rolling stock to be manufactured or assembled in the UK.

Claire Perry: The value of contracts are a commercial matter between the operator and the rolling stock owner. However, private investment in new and refurbished rolling stock since 1994 is in excess of £7.5 billion pounds.

Aviation: North East

Anna Turley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many annual flight movements between airports in the North East and (a) Heathrow and (b) Gatwick Airport took place in each year between 2000 and 2015.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Information on the number of flights between the North East and Heathrow and Gatwick are contained in the tables below: YearHeathrowGatwick 20006,3003,610 20016,0703,240 20026,0902,950 20036,0802,870 20046,4202,790 20056,9102,870 20066,2703,140 20076,4501,810 20086,0201,970 20094,3102,430 20103,5902,300 20114,0902,100 20123,9801,900 20133,9101,770 20144,0701,210 20154,180260   Reporting airportHeathrowGatwickLast/next airportDurham Tees ValleyNewcastleDurham Tees ValleyNewcastle20002,4303,870403,57020012,0903,980-3,24020022,0804,010-2,95020031,9904,090-2,87020042,1204,300-2,79020052,1504,7501002,77020062,0104,2605002,65020072,3904,070101,80020081,9904,030-1,96020094503,860-2,4302010-3,590-2,3002011-4,090-2,1002012-3,980-1,9002013-3,910-1,7602014-4,070-1,2102015-4,180-260  Source: Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)

Level Crossings

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's Level Crossing Reform Action Plan, published in December 2014, how many officials of his Department are currently working full-time or equivalent on the level crossing reform programme.

Claire Perry: The level crossing reform programme forms part of the responsibilities of the Head of Railway Safety Policy who is working closely with the Office of Rail and Road to develop proposals.

West Coast Railway Line: Franchises

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the total cost was of the InterCity West Coast rail franchise consultation; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: The InterCity West Coast rail franchise consultation launched earlier in the month and is due to close in August, so the total cost is not yet known. To date around £12,500 has been incurred to produce and distribute the consultation documentation and supporting materials in both English and Welsh. We will continue to engage with the public at events over the coming weeks and hope that they will make their views heard so that we can ensure that the next franchise truly meets their needs. We will also be holding regional events with stakeholders across the route over the consultation period providing opportunities for them to put questions to DfT officials to help inform their responses to the consultation.

West Coast Railway Line: Coventry

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department had made of the capacity of rail services between Coventry and London; and if he will make a statement.

Claire Perry: Rail services between Coventry and London are currently provided by the West Midlands and InterCity West Coast franchises. These franchises are due to be replaced when they expire in October 2017 and April 2018 respectively. The Department has completed a consultation in respect of the replacement West Midlands franchise, and commenced another in respect of InterCity West Coast earlier this month. The outcomes of those consultations, including the key challenges and opportunities that the Department has identified for those franchises, will be published in due course.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Religious Freedom

Mr Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what resources his Department allocates to promoting and upholding freedom of religion or belief within the countries with which it works.

Mr David Lidington: Human Rights are part of the everyday work of all British diplomats. We work intensively on freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) through the UN, the EU and the OSCE; and in individual countries, prioritising what works in local circumstances. In many parts of the world, we have supported projects through the Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy. In the current financial year, we have allocated almost £900,000 to projects in this area.

Ethiopia: Press Freedom

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the government of Ethiopia on the (a) imprisonment of the journalist Eskinder Nega and (b) protection of freedom of speech in that country.

James Duddridge: We continue to have concerns about those who are detained under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, including members of the opposition groups, journalists, peaceful protesters, and others seeking to express their rights to freedom of assembly or expression. British Embassy officials in Addis Ababa have not directly raised the case of Eskinder Nega, but through our engagement with Ethiopia and in the FCO’s previous Human Rights Reports, we have highlighted the need for greater freedom of the press in Ethiopia. With our international partners, we will continue to monitor high-profile trials brought under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. We have also raised these concerns with the Ethiopian government through our Human Rights Dialogue, whilst welcoming the release of Zone 9 bloggers and Reeyot Alemu last summer.

Religious Freedom: Females

Mr Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of violations of freedom of religion or belief on women; and what his Department is doing to tackle such violations.

Mr David Lidington: There are clear examples where the impact of violations of freedom of religion or belief falls particularly heavily on women – such as treatment of women by Daesh. Under the Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy, FCO funds projects to defend freedom of religion or belief, including the protection of the rights of women. For example, the FCO recently agreed to fund a project this financial year that tackles gender- based violence and discrimination in Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia.

Crimea: Religious Freedom

Mr Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on alleged violations of freedom of religion or belief in Crimea by the Russian authorities; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Lidington: I am aware of concerning reports of violations of freedom of religion and belief in Russia. The Jehovah’s Witnesses community, for example, has found itself under attack in several parts of Russia, often through misuse of legislation designed to combat extremism. As set out in the FCO Human Rights Report, the UK is deeply concerned about the deteriorating environment for human rights in Russia. We will continue to offer our support to all those who seek peacefully to pursue their freedom of religion and belief.

Religious Freedom

Mr Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department takes to ensure that its policies do not encourage discrimination of religion or belief.

Mr David Lidington: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office carefully assesses the probable impact of all policy decisions and actions, and avoids taking any decision or action likely to encourage discrimination of any kind, including on grounds of religion or belief.

Kamal Foroughi

Deidre  Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received on the health condition of Kamal Foroughi in Iran; and what assessment he has made of the level of Mr Foroughi's access to appropriate medical care.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We have raised our concerns about Mr Foroughi’s health with the Iranian Government and continue to lobby them at the highest level at every opportunity, requesting consular access for officials, access to lawyers and appropriate access to medical treatment. Most recently, on 18 May, I raised our concerns for Mr Foroughi’s health with the Iranian Charge d’affaires. We continue to ask for his early release on humanitarian grounds given his age and medical history.

Iran: Baha'i Faith

Mr Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department has made representations to the Iranian government on the imprisonment of seven Bahá'í leaders.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The UK regularly raises our concerns at the treatment of the Baha’i community in Iran. We call on Iran to cease harassment of all religious minorities and to fulfil its international and domestic obligations to allow freedom of religion to all Iranians.

Ethiopia: Prisoners

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the Ethiopian government on the cases of Tibebu Mekuria, Dawit Jemberu and Belete Tilahun.

James Duddridge: We are aware of the ongoing court case of Tibebu Mekuria, Dawit Jemberu and Belete Tilahun, who were convicted of burning down the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Gulema Iyesus in June 2015. As all three are still pursuing their appeal case through the courts in Ethiopia, with their final appeal hearing set for the 29 June, it would be inappropriate to comment on their case at this time.

Iran: Christianity

Mr Gavin Shuker: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Iranian government on the imprisonment of Ebrahim Firouzi and other Christians in that country.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: I discuss many issues with my Iranian counterpart. Restriction of freedom of expression, religion and belief continue to cause concern. I have repeatedly called on the Iranian government to end all persecution of individuals on the basis of their faith, and to guarantee the human rights of all Iranians, regardless of belief

Turkey: Syria

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of recent reports that Turkish border guards have shot and killed Syrians crossing the border to seek asylum in Turkey.

Mr David Lidington: We are aware of the allegations of the use of lethal force against civilians trying to cross the border from Syria into Turkey. We are unable to verify these allegations, as is the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The allegations have been strongly refuted by the Government of Turkey. We regularly raise with the Government of Turkey issues relating to the management of the border with Syria and the treatment of refugees. Turkey is hosting over 2.7million Syrian refugees and we understand that the Turkish government has made preparations to accept more Syrian refugees should conditions in Syria make that necessary, but that its priority is to enable humanitarian aid to be provided to affected populations inside northern Syria.

Egypt: Torture

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the prevalence of torture in Egyptian detention facilities.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We remain deeply concerned with reports of torture in Egyptian detention facilities and we have raised this on a number of occasions with senior Egyptian officials in Cairo and in London, most recently on 5 May. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Annual Human Rights Report 2015 designated Egypt a human rights priority country and recorded that, “In 2015, reports of torture, police brutality, and forced disappearance increased. A local NGO documented reports of 676 cases of torture and 137 deaths in detention.”The UK unreservedly condemns the use of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment as a matter of fundamental principle. The UK will continue to be a leader in advocating strong international systems to combat torture in all its forms.

Egypt: Counter-terrorism

Ann Clwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assistance the Government has provided to the government of Egypt for counter-terrorism in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015 and (d) 2016 to date; what equipment has been provided to that government for that purpose; and what types of capacity-building activity and training have been provided.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The UK and Egypt have a shared interest in the fight against terrorism, and we are committed to working together in a number of areas to combat the terrorist threat. These include aviation security and the protection of tourist resorts. The UK armed forces have also provided their Egyptian counterparts with counter-IED and close protection training.During President Sisi's visit to the UK in November 2015, the Foreign Secretary and Foreign Minister Shoukry signed a Memorandum of Understanding committing the Home Office and Egyptian Ministry of Interior to a regular high-level dialogue to increase cooperation across a wide range of areas, including counter-terrorism, illegal migration and organised crime.

Saudi Arabia: Arms Trade

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policy on arms export licences to Saudi Arabia of the recent reports that a BL755 cluster bomb made by UK firm Hunting Engineering Ltd was found to be in use against civilians in Yemen.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: We are aware of recent reports that the Coalition may have used cluster munitions in Yemen. We have raised this issue with the Saudi Arabian authorities and, in line with our obligations under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, continue to encourage Saudi Arabia, as a non-party to the Convention, to accede to it.The UK Government takes its arms export responsibilities very seriously and operates one of the most robust arms export control regimes in the world. All export licence applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis against the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria, taking account of all relevant factors at the time of the application. A licence will not be issued for any country, including Saudi Arabia, if to do so would be inconsistent with any provision of the mandatory Criteria, including where we assess there is a clear risk that the items might be used in the commission of a serious violation of International Humanitarian Law.The Government is confident in our robust case-by-case assessment and is satisfied that extant licences for Saudi Arabia are compliant with the UK’s export licensing criteria. The conflict in Yemen is being monitored closely, and relevant information gathered from that monitoring is taken into account as part of the careful risk assessment for the licensing of exports to Saudi Arabia.Minister for Defence Procurement, Philip Dunne, responded to an urgent question on the reports of UK manufactured cluster bombs in Yemen on Tuesday 24 May.

EU Staff: British Nationality

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK nationals have been on the staff of the European Parliament in each year since 2010; and what proportion of such staff in each such year were of administrator grade.

Mr David Lidington: Holding answer received on 26 May 2016



The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

EU Staff: British Nationality

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK nationals have been on the staff of the European Commission in each year since 2010.

Mr David Lidington: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

EU External Relations

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the Government's policy is on the EU Global Strategy.

Mr David Lidington: At the European Council meeting of 25-26 June, European leaders asked the EU High Representative to prepare an EU Global Strategy on foreign and defence policy to replace the 2003 European Security Strategy, which was last updated in 2008. It will identify and describe EU Member State interests, priorities and objectives, existing and evolving threats, challenges and opportunities, and the instruments and means to meet them. The Government supports this initiative, which complements the UK’s Strategic Defence and Security Review, and has engaged regularly with the High Representative during its preparation. The Government believes that the Global Strategy can enhance UK and other Member State foreign and security policy by covering the full range of EU external action tools.

Nigeria: Abduction

Ms Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the Nigerian government on securing the release of girls who have been abducted by Boko Haram.

James Duddridge: We regularly raise the issue of abducted girls, and indeed everyone abducted by Boko Haram, with the Nigerian government at the highest levels. Most recently the Foreign Secretary reiterated UK support for Nigeria’s efforts to tackle Boko Haram, when he met President Buhari in Abuja in May.We are providing a substantial and increasing package of intelligence, military and development support to Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram including support to those targeted by its indiscriminate campaign of violence, and assistance to find those who are missing.

Turkey: Politics and Government

Dr Paul Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will summon the ambassador of Turkey to explain why the Co-chair of the Democratic Regions Party, Kamuran Yuksek, has been arrested and charged with being a member of a terrorist organisation.

Mr David Lidington: The PKK continues to mount deadly terrorist attacks in Turkey, particularly in the country’s south-east. In the course of security operations in that region, a number of Democratic Regions Party officials have been detained, including Kamuran Yuksek. We regularly urge the Turkish authorities to respect human rights, including the right to freedom of expression, in the course of anti-terror operations, and to support the rule of law. We will continue to monitor these issues closely.

Turkey: EU Aid

Mr Douglas Carswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to other EU member states at the Council of the EU on cessation of Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance II funding to Turkey in 2014-20.

Mr David Lidington: The Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance funding is used to promote political reform and human rights, cut corruption and strengthen the rule of law and to bring Turkey - and other EU accession countries - up to EU standards, economically and politically. It has also been used to help Turkey respond to the migration crisis. It promotes cooperation on issues that matter to the UK, such as the rule of law, organised crime and migration. Improving the business environment in Turkey and other EU accession countries will lead to more commercial opportunities for British goods and investment.As the Prime Minister has made clear, Turkey’s EU accession is not remotely on the cards for many years to come.Turkey has to negotiate 35 different chapters. Since EU accession negotiations with Turkey started in 2005, only one chapter has been closed. Decisions to open chapters, to agree that conditions have been met and to close chapters all require the unanimous agreement of EU Member States. Once all chapter negotiations have been completed and closed, there must be another unanimous decision on accession. All 28 Member States then have to ratify an accession treaty, and the European Parliament has to approve the accession. Some EU Member States have already committed to undertake a referendum on Turkey’s accession to the EU. In the case of the UK, under the European Union Act 2011, ratification cannot take place without an Act of Parliament to approve the new accession. We can therefore ensure that our requirements are respected in any future EU enlargement.

EU Staff: British Nationality

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK nationals have been on the staff of the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU in each year since 2010; and what proportion of such staff in each such year were of administrator grade.

Mr David Lidington: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

UK Membership of EU

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on the UK's influence in the world of the UK leaving the EU.

Mr Philip Hammond: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 24 May 2016.The correct answer should have been:

I refer the Honourable Lady to my earlier answer in response to Question 16 (PQ905054.)The Government believes that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU. That way, the UK can play a leading role in one of the world’s largest organisations. Membership of the EU, like our membership of NATO and the UN, amplifies, not diminishes, the UK’s influence in the world.

Mr Philip Hammond: I refer the Honourable Lady to my earlier answer in response to Question 16 (PQ905054.)The Government believes that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU. That way, the UK can play a leading role in one of the world’s largest organisations. Membership of the EU, like our membership of NATO and the UN, amplifies, not diminishes, the UK’s influence in the world.

Department for International Development

Developing Countries: Education

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies enhances the capability and effectiveness of existing bodies such as the UNHCR and the Emergency Education Cluster and does not duplicate their work.

Mr Nick Hurd: Education Cannot Wait is designed to bring together the expertise, energy and capabilities of different actors, to work together more effectively on education in emergencies and protracted crises. A diverse range of organisations were involved in the development of the fund – including UN agencies, donors, recipient countries and civil society – through a consultative process co-chaired by the UK and Canada. The fund is intended to enable agencies to do more of what they currently do well in the sector, for example through providing support to strengthen the humanitarian education cluster at a global and local level. The UK will continue to engage closely during Education Cannot Wait’s inception phase, to ensure that this objective is fully reflected in its final design and finance mechanisms, and that a wide range of organisations are represented through the fund’s governance structure.

Developing Countries: Climate Change

Richard Burden: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effect of climate change on (a) agriculture, (b) food security and (c) levels of malnutrition in developing countries.

Mr Nick Hurd: DFID is supporting research organisations to make assessments of the impact of climate change on agriculture, food security and malnutrition. This includes support to the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Programme. One of its recent assessments found that 60% of production of beans in sub-Saharan Africa was at risk from climate change. DFID also supports the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition which has recently made an assessment of the effects of climate change on food systems and nutrition.DFID is using these assessments to inform our policies and programmes on agriculture. For example DFID’s Agriculture Policy Framework includes action on climate change as one of its priorities for our programmes. An example is our support to the International Fund for Agriculture Development’s Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP). Our support to ASAP is helping 6 million smallholder farmers to cope with the effects of climate change and at the same time increasing their agriculture productivity, incomes and food security.

Developing Countries: Education

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps she is taking to encourage other donors to fund Education For All: the fund for education in emergencies at its launch at the World Humanitarian Summit.

Mr Nick Hurd: The UK has played a leading role in the development of the Education Cannot Wait fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises, which was launched at the World Humanitarian Summit on 23rd May. The UK has committed to provide £30 million in support over two years to the new fund as a founding donor, which was announced by the International Development Secretary at the fund’s launch. The UK is working closely with UNICEF and other partners to encourage a broad funding base to Education Cannot Wait, including funding from non-traditional donors, private sector and philanthropic organisations. An example is UK technical support to the fund’s case for investment and other key communication and outreach products, to raise awareness of the fund with others.

Developing Countries: Females

Ms Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the implications are of the findings of the report from the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, entitled DFID's efforts to eliminate violence against women and girls, published on 17 May 2016, for her Department's work on strengthening women's rights organisations and networks in the developing world.

Justine Greening: I welcome ICAI’s recent review, which awarded my Department their highest rating, a green review score, for our work on tackling violence against women and girls. The review highlights the important contribution UK Aid makes to the lives of women and girls around the world and recognises the significant achievements of DFID to date on this vtial issue. My Department will provide a formal response to the ICAI findings in due course.

Department for Education

Pupils: Exercise

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of the trial of Active Movement in schools in Newbury; and if she will roll out Active Movement to other parts of the country.

Edward Timpson: We want all pupils to be healthy and active. We welcome schemes such as Active Movement which encourage pupils to participate more in physical activity. This Government gives schools the freedom to choose how to use the primary PE and sport premium to improve their PE and sport provision. PE remains a compulsory subject at all four key stages in the national curriculum. The national curriculum sets out the expectation that pupils should be physically active for sustained periods of time. Through the primary PE and sport premium, the Government has provided over £450 million of ring-fenced funding to primary schools to improve PE and sport[1]. As announced in the 2016 Budget, revenue from the soft drinks industry levy will be used to double the primary PE and sport premium to £320 million a year from September 2017, enabling them to further improve the quality and breadth of PE and sport they offer. This is part of a wider government commitment to cut obesity rates, together with DCMS’ recent Sports Strategy and DH’s forthcoming Childhood Obesity Strategy, which is expected to be launched in summer 2016.[1] Across the academic years 2013/14 to 2015/16.

Free Schools

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many free schools are in temporary accommodation.

Edward Timpson: Holding answer received on 23 May 2016



As at 23 May 2016, 110 free schools were in some form of temporary accommodation. Some of these schools will be open in temporary accommodation on their permanent site as part of a phased transition. Opening free schools in temporary accommodation has ensured that we have been able to meet a need for places and support free school trusts to open much needed new schools at the earliest opportunity.

Free Schools

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many free schools spent more than one year in temporary accommodation in each year since 2011.

Edward Timpson: Holding answer received on 23 May 2016



Since the start of the programme in 2011, around 200 free schools have opened in some form of temporary accommodation. The majority of these schools have spent one to two years in temporary accommodation before moving to their permanent site. Opening free schools in temporary accommodation has ensured that we have been able to meet a need for places and support free school trusts to open much needed new schools at the earliest opportunity.

Children: Care Homes

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) local authority-run and (b) private or voluntary sector children's homes there were in each local authority area in 31 March 2015.

Edward Timpson: Ofsted publishes information on the provision of children’s homes. This information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/childrens-social-care-in-england-2015  Information on provision levels at 31 March 2015, by sector and local authority, is attached.



Provision_levels_by_sector_and_LA
(Excel SpreadSheet, 23.19 KB)

Children: Care Homes

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much was spent on (a) local authority and (b) non-local authority residential care provision per week and per child in each local authority in the latest year for which figures are available.

Edward Timpson: Local authorities submit annual outturn statements to the Secretary of State for Education on actual expenditure for their education and children’s social care functions. The most recent outturn figures can be found on GOV.UK[1]. The file named “S251 outturn 2014 to 2015: individual LA expenditure data” enables reported annual expenditure by each local authority to be viewed at an individual local authority level. There is a distinct line for residential care. The information on residential care spend is attached. Total annual spend by each local authority is broken down to show spend on:Own provisionPrivate provisionOther public provision (this includes other local authorities); andAnd voluntary sector provision.It is not possible to measure spend on provision within each local authority. This is because the location of the provision provided is not captured in the section 251 financial return.  [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/section-251-outturn-2014-to-2015-data



Residential_care_spend
(Excel SpreadSheet, 20.8 KB)

Children: Care Homes

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children were placed in regulated children's homes within each local authority boundary in the year ending 31 March 2015; and how many and what proportion of children in regulated children's homes within each local authority boundary were the responsibility of that local authority in that year.

Edward Timpson: The information requested is attached.



No._children_placed_in_regulated_homes_by_LA
(Excel SpreadSheet, 26.18 KB)

University Technical Colleges

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students were on the roll of university technical colleges in (a) 2013, (b) 2014, (c) 2015 and (d) 2016.

Nick Boles: According to published January census data, the number of pupils on roll in all University Technical Colleges (UTCs) was 795 in academic year 2012/13, 2,946 in 2013/14 and 6,363 in 2014/15. The census data for January 2016 has not yet been published. However, the 2015 October census data shows 9,454 pupils on roll in all UTCs in the 2015/16 academic year.

Local Safeguarding Children Boards Independent Review

Ann Coffey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to publish Alan Wood's report on local safeguarding children's boards' roles and functions.

Edward Timpson: Alan Wood’s independent review of the role and functions of Local Safeguarding Children Boards has now been published. It can be found on GOV.UK at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wood-review-of-local-safeguarding-children-boards

Academies: Land Use

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications from academy trusts to use land for purposes other than education have been (a) approved and (b) refused in each year since 2011.

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications she has received from academy trusts wishing to use land for purposes other than education in each year since 2011.

Edward Timpson: Holding answer received on 23 May 2016



The data is not held in the format requested. Any academy wishing to dispose or permanently change the use of its land must obtain the Secretary of State’s consent. However, whilst continuing to hold their land for educational purposes in accordance with their charitable status, academies may allow others to make occasional or limited use of their land, for example, by using this flexibility to play an important role in supporting their local communities. Only a minority of academies hold the freehold to their sites; the majority lease the land from local authorities and only the freeholder authority would have the power to request the Secretary of State’s consent to either dispose of or permanently change the use of land. The local authority, as the land owner, would also need to seek consent from the Secretary of State should the land be appropriated for other non-educational purposes.

Two Trees School Denton

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what procedures she will follow in consideration of applications for the disposal for development of the former Two Trees High School in Denton.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what account she will take of the loss of playing fields in consideration of applications for the disposal for development of the former Two Trees High School site in Denton.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans she has to consult (a) alternative educational providers, (b) the public and (c) the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish over applications for the disposal for development of the former Two Trees High School site in Denton.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment of need for (a) additional school places, (b) a new academy or (c) a new free school she plans to carry out in connection with applications to dispose for development of the former Two Trees High School site in Denton.

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has received an application from Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council to release the former Two Trees High School site in Denton for development.

Edward Timpson: The Education Act 2011 requires that the Secretary of State must give consent prior to the disposal of land which has been used for any school or academy in the last eight years. A key consideration for the government is whether the land proposed for disposal could be suitable for use by a new academy or free school. School playing fields are also protected by Section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. Schools and local authorities must obtain the Secretary of State’s approval before they can dispose of their land. Applications to dispose of school playing fields are first considered by the school playing fields advisory panel, who make a recommendation to the Secretary of State, before she then makes her final decision. At this time I am not aware of an application by Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council to seek approval to dispose of the former Two Trees Sports College, including the playing fields. Should an application be submitted, the Secretary of State would take into account any groups or organisations with permission to use the playing fields and what suitable alternative provision they may have been offered. Local schools, which are deficient in playing field land, should also be offered the opportunity to use the playing field before any application is presented. She will also take into account local school place needs and any academy requirement.

Fertility: Medical Treatments

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of variations in levels of provision of fertility treatment on (a) adoption uptake and (b) fostering services; and whether such variations are being considered by the Child Protection Taskforce.

Edward Timpson: Information on the provision of fertility treatment is not collected centrally. We do not hold information on this issue.

Academies: Sponsorship

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Answer of 11 May 2016 to Question 35798, on Academies Sponsorship, how many of the re-brokered schools in each year since 2010 had been graded inadequate by Ofsted.

Edward Timpson: 60 of the 130 academies and free schools that have been re-brokered since 2010 had been graded inadequate by Ofsted. The remaining academies and free schools were re-brokered because Regional Schools Commissioners identified weaknesses in those schools that could be better addressed by a new sponsor.

Schools Commissioner: Exhibitions

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the budget is for the National Schools Commissioner Roadshow during June and July 2016.

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much has been allocated for travel and subsistence costs for officials of her Department related to the National Schools Commissioner Roadshow during June and July 2016.

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many officials of her Department are (a) involved in organising and (b) expected to attend the National Schools Commissioner Roadshow during June and July 2016.

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much has been allocated to advertise the National Schools Commissioner Roadshow during June and July 2016.

Jess Phillips: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people she expects to attend each of the National Schools Commissioner Roadshow events during June and July 2016.

Nick Gibb: The cost of the nine National Schools Commissioner Roadshows during June and July 2016 will be met from within Schools Commissioner’s Group (SCG) allocated programme budget. The programme budget is to cover the costs related to events and other communications activities. For the 2016/17 financial year, this budget is £425k. It is expected that approximately 1,500 system leaders will attend the nine National Schools Commissioner Roadshows taking place in June and July 2016. There was no specific allocation made for travel and subsistence costs for officials related to the National Schools Commissioner Roadshows during June and July 2016. These costs will be met from within SCG allocated administrative budget. An official in each of the RSC offices has been involved in organising the nine National Schools Commissioners roadshows, supported by a lead in SCG. We expect approximately five officials to attend each roadshow, plus the National Schools Commissioner and the relevant Regional School Commissioner (RSC). There has been no budget allocated to advertising the National Schools Commissioner Roadshows.

Education: Assessments

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she still plans to introduce compulsory resit tests in (a) English reading and (b) mathematics for year 7 pupils who do not reach the required standard at the end of key stage 2.

Nick Gibb: The Secretary of State has already announced the Government’s plans to introduce resits in Year 7. This announcement can found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nicky-morgan-no-tolerance-of-areas-where-majority-of-pupils-fail. We have been clear that the resits will not be implemented in the next academic year and that we will engage with the education sector to make sure the tests are introduced in a way that works for schools. Further information will be provided in due course.

Teachers: Training

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the statutory framework is for the accreditation of teachers in England; and whether her Department has plans to change that framework.

Nick Gibb: All teachers recommended for the award of qualified teacher status (QTS) must demonstrate that they meet the Teachers’ Standards in full, at the appropriate level (available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teachers-standards). Trainees undertaking a course of initial teacher training must also satisfy the requirements of the Secretary of State’s Criteria for ITT (available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/initial-teacher-training-criteria), including having passed the professional skills tests in literacy and numeracy. Our recent White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, set out our proposals to replace the current QTS with a new, more challenging accreditation based on teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom. We will be setting out further detail of how and when we intend to implement the new system shortly.

Teachers: Training

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 2.28 of the White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, published in March 2016, how her Department plans to determine which universities will be able to establish a centre of excellence in initial teacher training.

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 2.28 of the White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, published in March 2016, with which (a) individuals, (b) organisations and (c) universities she has had discussions regarding the establishment of centres for excellence in initial teacher training.

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 2.28 of the White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, published in March 2016, when her Department plans to consult sector bodies on the proposed creation of centres for excellence for initial teacher training; and how that consultation will take place.

Nick Gibb: The Government’s White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, confirmed that we intend to use a new set of quality criteria to determine how initial teacher training (ITT) places are allocated to training providers in future, ensuring that training is concentrated with the highest-quality providers. On the basis of these criteria, which will include factors such as the quality of trainees recruited, the quality of the training programmes, and the quality of outcomes for trainees, we will designate some providers as Centres of Excellence. We expect to set out further details of the quality criteria that will apply for the 2017/18 training year, and which providers will be designated as Centres of Excellence, when we confirm the methodology for allocating places, which is currently under discussion. The Department for Education has actively been engaging the ITT sector in discussions about the proposals in the White Paper, including the establishment of ITT Centres of Excellence. Engagement to date has included a series of roundtable discussion events for university- and school-led providers and their representative bodies, such as the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET) and the National Association of School-Based Teacher Trainers (NASBTT). We expect to confirm the allocations methodology for 2017/18 after further consultation with providers and their representative organisations over the summer, in time for the start of recruitment in the autumn term.

Academies: Stafford

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of (a) trends in the take-up of academy places and (b) the performance of academies in Stafford constituency.

Edward Timpson: The number of pupils on roll in academies in the Stafford Constituency from January 2012 to January 2015 was as follows: 2012201320142015The Weston Road Academy824819797813The Rural Enterprise AcademyN/A408494Rowley Park Primary AcademyN/AN/AN/A161John Wheeldon Primary AcademyN/AN/AN/A428Source: School Census, January 2012 to 2015 The percentage of pupils achieving level 4 or above in reading, writing and maths at key stage 2 in 2015 (the first year for which the academies had results) for primary academies in Stafford constituency was as follows: 2015Rowley Park Primary Academy83%John Wheeldon Primary Academy62%Source: School Performance Tables The percentage of pupils achieving 5 or more A*-C GCSEs (or equivalent) including English and maths GCSEs at key stage 4 in 2014 to 2015 of the secondary academies in Stafford constituency was as follows: 20142015The Rural Enterprise Academy22%40%The Weston Road Academy55%51%Source: School Performance Tables The Weston Road Academy also has a Sixth Form where 79% of pupils passed at least 3 A-Levels (A*-E) in 2015. Data for key stage 4 for years before 2014 are not comparable due to reforms to qualifications, notably the removal of many previous equivalent vocational qualifications and counting only the first attempt at a qualification in the performance tables in English Baccalaureate subjects.

Internet: Bullying

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that all children are taught in schools about online abuse and how they should report such abuse to the police.

Edward Timpson: E-safety is covered at all key stages in the computing curriculum since its introduction in September 2014. Children in primary schools are taught how to use technology safely and respectfully, how to keep personal information private, and where to go for help and support when they have concerns about content or contact on the internet, such as online abuse or other online technologies. Pupils in secondary schools are taught a range of ways to use technology safely, respectfully, responsibly and securely, including protecting their online identity and privacy, how to recognise inappropriate content, contact and conduct and how to report concerns. All schools can choose to teach children about the dangers of social media in an age-appropriate way. Schools are also able to teach pupils about e-safety in personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) lessons. The PSHE Association’s non-statutory programme of study for health and well-being includes ways of keeping physically and emotionally safe, including online.

Academies

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the press notice entitled Next Steps to spread educational excellence everywhere announced, published on 6 May 2016, how long before she made the announcement of her decision to change her policy on schools becoming academies that decision was made.

Edward Timpson: When our White Paper Educational Excellence Everywhere was published, we were clear that we would be listening and reflecting on discussions with MPs and the education sector about all of the proposals in the White Paper. Following these discussions, we have decided it is not necessary to take blanket powers to convert good schools in strong local authorities to academies at this time. We remain committed to the vision of a dynamic high-performing education system where every school is an academy. We believe that this is the best way to tackle underperformance and ensure the best schools expand their reach.

Intercountry Adoption

Mr Nicholas Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to amend adoption rules to facilitate the adoption of children resettled under the Immigration Act 2016.

Edward Timpson: The Government has no plans to amend adoption legislation to facilitate the adoption of children resettled under the Immigration Act 2016. The United Nations and other humanitarian charities advise that no new adoption applications should be considered in the period after a disaster or from a war zone before the authorities in that State are in a position to apply the necessary safeguards. This is because it is not uncommon in an emergency or unsettled situation for children to be temporarily separated from their parents or other family members who may be looking for them. So whilst some lone refugee children may come to the UK for temporary care, we would wish to support them to be reunited with their parents or other relatives where this is possible.

Church Commissioners

Churches: Credit Unions

Mr Robin Walker: To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, how many credit unions have approached churches or church organisations as a result of the Archbishop of Canterbury's #TOYOURCREDIT initiative.

Mrs Caroline Spelman: Churches across England have responded to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s call to support credit unions and other forms of responsible credit and savings. At least 31 out of 40 dioceses have been actively involved in supporting over 50 credit unions in various ways, such as:promoting the local credit union in their congregation and wider communityrecruiting credit union volunteershosting training sessionsopening church premises as credit union access pointsencouraging payroll savings schemes among local employershelping to set up school savings clubs Through the Church Credit Champions Network, one of the core initiatives of the Archbishop’s Task Group on Responsible Credit and Savings, the pilot scheme has engaged over 350 churches in London and Liverpool alone and trained more than 260 Credit Champions to date. Other creative diocesan responses include the Murston Community Bank in Canterbury diocese, Lichfield’s Funeral Project, Southwell & Nottingham’s 100x100 scheme are all designed to raise local awareness of credit unions. The other core initiative, the LifeSavers programme, is working with eight credit unions across the country to set up savings clubs in primary schools, alongside an integrated programme of financial education. Following a successful pilot, the programme is being rolled out to 120 church and non-church primary schools over the next three academic years with financial support from Virgin Money. Additional funding from Government will help extend the coverage to many more primary schools through a dedicated LifeSavers website.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Broadband

David Mackintosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if his Department will make representations to the Advertising Standards Authority to change the guidelines for broadband speed advertisements to increase the proportion of broadband customers who must reach the stated speed on their internet connection.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy has met and written to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), encouraging it to strengthen its rules on broadband speed claims in advertising. We consider that the proportion of customers who can receive the headline speed should be higher than their guidelines stipulate (10%) and have asked to ASA to examine this.

Museums and Galleries

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what information his Department holds on the effect of museums on health and well-being.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Department holds a number of case studies and research papers with examples of the benefits that museums have on well-being, and has noted the importance of these benefits in the Culture White Paper. Examples of best practice in this area include National Museums Liverpool’s “House of Memories” dementia project, and the 'if: Volunteering for wellbeing' programme at IWM North, Manchester Museum and Museum of Science & Industry, with a particular focus on improving health of participants.

BBC: Internet

Michael Dugher: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will seek information from the BBC on the number of unique visitors to the BBC Food website in each month since May 2010; and if he will place that information in the Library.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Decisions in relation to the BBC's online content are a matter for the BBC which is editorially independent of the Government.

Tech City UK

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what Tech City UK's (a) total operations budget, (b) communications budget and (c) expenditure on third party communications consultancy and public relations agencies was for (i) 2014, (ii) 2015 and (iii) 2016.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Tech City UK (including Tech North) total operations budget was £2,500,000 in 2014-15; £4,223,000 in 2015-16; and £4,100,000 in 2016-17. Tech City UK (including Tech North) communications costs were £173,091 in 2014-15; £279,355 in 2015-16; and £5,000 in 2016-17 (YTD). These costs were all expenditure on third party communications, consultancy and public relations agencies Tech North's communication costs were nil in 2014-15 and 2016-17 (YTD), and £74,500 in 2015-16. These costs were all expenditure on third party communications, consultancy and public relations agencies.

Museums and Galleries

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, which museums partly or wholly reliant on public funding, have (a) closed part of their service, (b) reduced educational programmes and (c) closed completely in the last 12 months.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Department does not hold data on a) and b).Between 2012 and 2016, the Department for Education has provided £4.8 million for the “Museums and Schools” programme to support regional museums working with schools, in partnership with National Museums. The programme has exceeded its targets with over 68,000 pupils benefitting, and according to Arts Council England (ACE) data, the number of children attending events at ACE-sponsored museums continues to increase. c) In the last 12 months, three former local authority-funded museums in England have closed: Snibston Discovery Museum, Orpington Museum and Durham Light Infantry Museum. Orpington Museum has been replaced with two permanent displays in Bromley Central Library. A section of Durham Light Infantry Museum is now on display at the Palace Green Library, as part of the Somme 1916 exhibition. Snibston Discovery Museum's collection has been dispersed locally - 61 objects that were on loan from Leicester City Museum Service have been returned along with 40 objects connected to the city's industrial heritage.

BBC: Pay

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the proposals in his Department's White Paper, A BBC for the future, published in May 2016, what discussions he has had with the BBC on reducing the level of salary arrangements for managerial and celebrity appointments.

Mr Edward Vaizey: I have had discussions with the BBC throughout the Charter Review process. Although the level at which the BBC pays its managerial and talent appointments is a matter for the BBC, the Government's White Paper, A BBC for the future​: a Broadcaster of Distinction, sets out that the BBC will maintain the current cap on talent spend of a maximum of 16 per cent of internal content costs. As part of their duty to ensure the BBC delivers value for money, the new BBC board will also have a duty to manage talent costs and conduct and report on a rolling programme of talent pay reviews, with independent, expert advice. The new Board's remuneration committee will have to approve salaries above £250K and publish the names of those paid over £450K.

Tech North

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what Tech North's (a) operational and (b) communications budget was for (i) 2015 and (ii) 2016; and what Tech North's total expenditure on third party communications consultancy and public relations agencies was in each of those two years.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Tech City UK (including Tech North) total operations budget was £2,500,000 in 2014-15; £4,223,000 in 2015-16; and £4,100,000 in 2016-17. Tech City UK (including Tech North) communications costs were £173,091 in 2014-15; £279,355 in 2015-16; and £5,000 in 2016-17 (YTD). These costs were all expenditure on third party communications, consultancy and public relations agencies Tech North's communication costs were nil in 2014-15 and 2016-17 (YTD), and £74,500 in 2015-16. These costs were all expenditure on third party communications, consultancy and public relations agencies.

Tickets: Sales

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to publish the responses received by the review on secondary ticketing as required by section 94 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

David Evennett: The plan is to publish responses to the Call for Evidence in due course.

Leisure: Yorkshire and the Humber

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what Government funding has been awarded to (a) Welcome to Yorkshire, (b) the campaign to bring the Turner Prize to Hull in 2017 and (c) the creation of a new cycle gateway to the Yorkshire Dales National Park since the publication of the Long-Term Economic Plan for Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire in February 2015.

David Evennett: Over the last two financial years, Welcome to Yorkshire has received a total of ​£1,619,100 of Government funding to promote tourism and the success of cycling in Yorkshire, building on the Grand Depart. This Government is providing £1.5million funding for the Ferens gallery in Hull so it can host the 2017 Turner prize. And in 2014, the Canal River Trust won £450,000 from the Cycling Ambition in National Park programme for a range of cycling schemes, including the transformation of a 4km stretch of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal centred on the market town of Skipton, which is also a key gateway to the Yorkshire Dales. On 24 May Government announced funding for both the Sustainable Travel Transition Year Fund 2016/17, and the North East Lincolnshire and Lincolnshire, with projects earmarked across the region but not in the specific Yorkshire Dales area.

Festivals and Special Occasions: Newcastle upon Tyne

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to support Newcastle upon Tyne's Freedom City 2017 festival.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Freedom City 2017 is an important and exciting prospect for Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Arts Council England's (ACE) North Director in Newcastle sits on the steering group for the festival and, in April 2015, ACE provided a Grants for the arts award of £15,000 to the Northern Roots, a partner in the development of the Freedom City 2017 event. ACE are continuing discussions with the Festival organisers on how they can further support the event.

Television: Sports

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what his policy is on the future availability of protected sporting events on free-to-air television; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Ofcom Code on Listed Events ensures that key sporting events are made available for free-to-air channels. Our sport strategy, Sporting Future: A new strategy for an active nation, published December 2015, made clear that the Government does not propose to review this list.

Television: Licensing

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to close the iPlayer loophole.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Government will bring forward legislative proposals to close the iPlayer loophole by the Summer.

Television: Licensing

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to page 17 of the White Paper, A BBC for the future: a broadcaster of distinction, published in May 2016, if he will provide details of how the more flexible payment plans for payment of television licence fees will help people on lower incomes.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The government intends to update legislation to allow clearer and more flexible payment schemes, especially for those facing difficulty in paying the licence fee. This will enable the BBC to trial alternative payment plans, including removing the requirement for individuals to pay the cost of a 12-month licence over six months. This would help those who struggle to make higher initial payments.

Broadband

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate he has made of the savings to his Department's budget arising from the Government's decision not to automatically roll-out broadband to all households and businesses.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Government's plans to implement a broadband Universal Service Obligation will have no impact on the Department's budget for the roll out of superfast broadband. The contracts we have put in place with Openreach mean that the more homes and businesses that sign up for superfast broadband, the more money Openreach has to return to local authorities to extend the roll out even further. So far, Openreach has confirmed more than £200 million of savings that can be reinvested, over and above the £1.7bn of public funding already allocated, and we expect more funding to be confirmed in due course. We will be reinvesting that funding to extend superfast broadband to as many additional rural homes and businesses as possible.

Broadband

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the level of take-up was for superfast fixed broadband in each parliamentary constituency in the latest year for which data is available.

Mr Edward Vaizey: BDUK do not hold take-up data at constituency level, but do have take-up data on local projects with BDUK funding. BDUK publish these statistics for local projects on the programme’s webpage, which is publically accessible at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Hs00bNsyRV1WoOt-fow3rsNXzpcKg26AsOWvk1bvJRk/edit#gid=0

Broadband

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many (a) fixed residential and (b) business broadband lines there were in each parliamentary constituency in the latest year for which data is available.

Mr Edward Vaizey: BDUK do not hold data on the number of residential and broadband lines in each constituency.

Broadband

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many superfast fixed broadband lines there were in each parliamentary constituency in the latest year for which data is available.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The House of Commons library has produced statistics on superfast broadband coverage in each constituency based on Ofcom’s postcode data for 2015. This can be found at http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN06643. Thinkbroadband has independently made more recent estimates, for example at https://labs.thinkbroadband.com/local/index.php?area=eng&nation=eng.

Broadband

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, on what basis the contribution to broadband installation costs for the very remotest properties will be calculated; and whether there will be an upper limit on the contribution which individual households are required to make.

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to page 14 of the Queen's Speech 2016: background briefing notes, if he will define the terms (a) very remotest properties and (b) contributing to the cost of broadband installation in rural areas; and if he will estimate the number of properties in Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency in that category.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Work is ongoing on the design of the broadband Universal Service Obligation (USO) and the reasonable cost threshold. The independent telecoms regulator Ofcom will provide technical analysis and recommendations to help inform both of these, as well as identify the premises likely to be within the USO footprint. These are expected to be predominantly in rural areas, but there will also be urban and suburban homes and businesses eligible to request a connection under the USO.

Ofcom: Staff

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of staffing levels for Ofcom in each year up to 2028.

Mr Edward Vaizey: Ofcom decides resource allocation and staffing levels based on the activities identified in its annual planning process. For 2014/15 the average resource cost was £63.8m and average number of staff was 787. The 2015/16 figures will be published and laid before Parliament in July.

BBC: Royal Charters

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department plans to publish the draft BBC Charter.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The government is in the process of drafting the Royal Charter and we expect to publish a draft version in the coming months.

Broadband

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of  (a) households and (b) businesses unable to access broadband speeds of (i) 10 Mbit/s and (ii) two Mbit/s in the latest period for which figures are available.

Mr Edward Vaizey: According to Ofcom’s Connected Nations 2015 report - based on the state of the market in May 2015 - 8% of premises were unable to access broadband speeds of 10Mbp/s and 2% of premises were unable to access broadband speeds of 2Mbp/s. These figures are likely to have reduced due to continued commercial and BDUK broadband deployment across the UK - superfast broadband access has increased from 45% in 2010 to 90%, and by the end of next year, 95% of homes and businesses will have access to superfast broadband. In addition, all premises with speeds below 2Mbp/s now have access to speeds greater than this through the Government’s Basic Broadband Scheme, and the Prime Minister has announced the Government’s intention to implement a new broadband Universal Service Obligation, with a minimum speed of 10Mbps, to help ensure no-one is left behind.

Ofcom

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what his Department's planned expenditure on resources is for Ofcom in each year up to 2028.

Mr Edward Vaizey: The Government and Department set Ofcom’s overall spending cap as part of the 2015 Spending Review. Where significant changes are made to Ofcom’s remit or activities, Government will review the spending cap to ensure Ofcom is adequately resourced.

Ofcom: Trade Competitiveness

Jesse Norman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to make an announcement on Ofcom's review of the Terms of Trade.

Mr John Whittingdale: The independent television production sector in this country is a fantastic success story, generating around £3 billion in revenue each year. I have considered carefully Ofcom’s report on the television production sector and decided that the regulations continue to be effective and play a key role in supporting a diverse and vibrant production sector. We have therefore decided to make no change.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Litter

John Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reasons the Tobacco Manufacturers' Association has not been invited to meetings of the litter strategy advisory group.

Rory Stewart: We welcome all views on how the problem of litter, including that caused by cigarettes can be tackled. As such, Defra will consult with a wide range of stakeholders to inform the development of its policies, and does so in line with the government’s Consultation Principles and other obligations. The Litter Strategy Advisory Group currently has over 20 members, which include representatives from, among others, local government, the packaging industry and organisations with expertise in running national campaigns to address the problem of litter. Without making the Group too large, which could reduce its effectiveness; the Group’s membership strikes a balance between different interests but still allows for effective discussion. We recognise that a desire to see littering reduced extends beyond just the organisations represented on the Group, and we intend to seek input from a wider base that this, with the Group being only one way that views and contributions on litter prevention can be fed in.

Litter

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans that the national litter strategy will include beach and aquatic litter.

Rory Stewart: The Litter Strategy for England will focus on three key themes: education and awareness; punishing offenders; and better cleansing and litter infrastructure, which should lead to a reduction in the amount of litter reaching local areas, including our beaches and the aquatic environment. To develop the Litter Strategy we are working with a range of interested stakeholders, including representatives from the Marine Conversation Society, Thames21 and the Canal and Rivers Trust. The UK Marine Strategy Part Three, published in December last year, sets out the actions we are taking to improve the marine environment. It covers measures that contribute to reducing the sources of marine litter, including sources of beach and aquatic litter, and to remove what has already reached our beaches and aquatic environment. Actions related specifically to UK beaches include Defra-funded beach cleaning schemes on priority beaches.

Air Pollution: Databases

Caroline Ansell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has responded to the WHO Ambient Air Pollution Database Update 2016; what assessment she has made of the findings of that update; and if she will make a statement.

Rory Stewart: Latest compliance data show that the UK is meeting the EU daily and annual mean limits for particulate matter (PM) concentrations. We continue to monitor compliance with PM limits and to explore options to reduce PM concentrations further across the UK. The Government’s ambition is for the UK to have the best natural environment anywhere. Clean air is an essential part of that ambition. In December last year, the Government published the national air quality plan for reducing NO2 concentrations through a new programme of Clean Air Zones, alongside national action and continued investment in clean technologies. These measures will also reduce PM concentrations.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the proportion of farmers who have received (a) a payment and (b) full payment from the Rural Payments Agency under the Basic Payment Scheme in 2015.

George Eustice: The Rural Payments Agency estimates that as of 22 May 2016, 86375 (99%) claimants have received a payment on their 2015 BPS claim. Of these 79,633 have received a claim payment; 6561 bridging payments; and 181 a manual hardship payment. There are a number of claims where processing has been completed successfully but they have not resulted in a payment for reasons such as the claim being under minimum claim size, or the Agency awaiting information on probate cases.The Rural Payments Agency will continue to make full payments throughout the remainder of the payment window up to the end of June 2016.

Oilseed Rape: Neonicotinoids

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if her Department will respond to the findings of the report entitled Oilseed rape and neonicotinoids, by 38 Degrees, published in September 2015.

George Eustice: The report by 38 Degrees questions the need for neonicotinoids to protect oilseed rape and argues that no emergency authorisation for this use of neonicotinoids should be granted in 2016. Emergency authorisation is a procedure set out in law. All applications for emergency authorisation in the UK, including those for neonicotinoids, are decided according to the criteria in the legislation following an expert assessment of the scientific data. Two recent applications were assessed on that basis and were found not to meet the criteria for authorisation.

School Milk

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much the Rural Payments Agency has made in payments related to the European School Milk Scheme in each region and constituent part of the UK in each year since 2005.

George Eustice: The attached table shows the total UK amounts taken from the annual European accounts for each year from 2005 to 2016. The amounts in the table are the payments made to the organisations that supply milk to schools, which have been claimed back in full from the European Commission by the RPA. In years 2005 and 2006 the Rural Payments Agency were required to produce the accounts in GBP currency and in years 2007 and later, were required to produce accounts in euro currency to comply with Regulation 883-2006. YearAmount20056,695,400.6420066,552,414.56Total££13,247,815.2020078,204,965.5620087,893,693.2120097,553,825.1320107,292,814.6820111,900,066.8320124,753,174.3920134,525,499.8420144,382,584.4620154,325,618.91Total €€ 50,832,243.01 The figure for 2011 is a result of a repayment made by the Department of Health, where a decision was taken to fund the cost of the nursery milk provision entirely from their own budget. This resulted in the RPA claiming less from the European Commission that year only. A breakdown by region and constituent part of the UK could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Nitrogen Dioxide: EU Law

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to meet the EU's nitrogen dioxide emissions target.

Rory Stewart: The UK currently meets the EU legal requirements for almost all pollutants, but we know there is still more to do and that the UK faces significant challenges in meeting EU requirements for nitrogen dioxide. The national air quality plan, published in December last year, sets out a comprehensive approach for meeting the air quality challenges by implementing a new programme of Clean Air Zones. The plan combines targeted local and national measures, forming part of a wider approach that exploits new and clean technologies, such as electric and ultra-low emission vehicles. The Government has committed over £2 billion since 2011 to increase the uptake of ultra-low emission vehicles, support green transport initiatives and support local authorities to take action.

Department for Energy and Climate Change: EU Law

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with the European Commission on infraction proceedings relating to the UK breaching EU nitrogen dioxide limits.

Rory Stewart: The Government is committed to improving the UK’s air quality, reducing health impacts, and fulfilling our environmental responsibilities.In December last year the Government published the national air quality plan which sets out a comprehensive approach for meeting these goals by implementing a new programme of Clean Air Zones.The Government is keeping the European Commission informed of the significant action that the UK is taking to address air pollution.

Food: Allergies

Mrs Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to encourage food manufacturers and processors to avoid the use of (a) allergenic materials and (b) non-allergenic materials in ways that may cause allergenic reactions.

George Eustice: In December 2014, the law on how food allergen information is given was changed to make it easier for consumers with an allergy or intolerance to manage their condition safely when buying food or eating out. Defra continues to promote accurate and informative food labelling to inform consumers about the food they buy, including the presence of allergens in food so that consumers can make informed choices. The Food Standards Agency’s Guidance on Allergen Management and Consumer Information provides guidance on allergen management in food manufacturing and processing to assess and avoid cross contamination.

Yeast

Mrs Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what research has her Department undertaken on the effect of the use of increasing levels of yeast and yeast extracts in food.

George Eustice: Historically Defra has funded research on yeast under the Food LINK Programmes in relation to its use in brewing, in food and drink spoilage and to develop predictive food microbiological modelling tools. Since 2010 we have engaged with Innovate UK on collaborative R&D with industry supporting a range of issues on food quality.

Cane Sugar: Import Duties

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Government has made on the effect of the CXL duty on (a) the number of jobs in and (b) exports from the UK's cane refining sector in the years up to (i) 2017 and (ii) 2025.

George Eustice: No assessment has been made of the effect of the CXL duty on the number of jobs in and exports from the UK’s cane refining sector. An economic modelling paper assessing the effect of the ending of the EU sugar quota regime on the price of white sugar within the EU was published in November 2015. This paper is particularly focussed on the likely impact on the cane refining industry in the EU. However it does not model any changes to the structure of either the beet or cane refining industries. The paper can be found on the GOV.UK website.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her plans are for assessing the effect of badger culling on the spread of bovine TB among cattle; and who she plans to undertake that assessment.

George Eustice: The Animal and Plant Health Agency continues to assess the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in cattle in areas where badger control is licensed.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many (a) expressions of interest and (b) applications Natural England has received for a badger control licence; and what the timetable for decisions is on applications received.

George Eustice: Natural England has received (a) 21 expressions of interest; and (b) 8 applications for badger control licenses. Decisions will be announced before the start of each year’s badger control operations.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding her Department has allocated for its badger cull policy for 2016-17.

George Eustice: The amount of funding allocated for industry-led badger control will depend on the number of applicants authorised to proceed in 2016.

Cats: Animal Breeding

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to educate consumers about the welfare risks of certain breed characteristics in cats so that consumers can make informed decisions when considering a purchase.

George Eustice: The Government would be happy to work with key stakeholders to discuss health problems associated with pedigree cats

Neonicotinoids

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the timetable is for her Department's assessment of applications for emergency authorisation of neonicotinoid seed treatments; and whether she plans to remove restrictions on the use of neonicotinoids.

George Eustice: The timetable for assessing an application for emergency authorisation varies from case to case. It needs to enable expert scientific assessment and a decision to be made against the legal criteria in time for any authorisation to be of value to users. Two recent applications for emergency authorisation of neonicotinoids as seed treatments for oilseed rape were turned down on 12 May following expert advice that they did not meet the criteria for authorisation. The UK has fully implemented restrictions on the use of three neonicotinoids. UK experts are contributing to a review of the risks to pollinators from neonicotinoids being led by the European Food Safety Authority, which is due to complete by January 2017. The European Commission will then consider whether to propose changes to the current restrictions.

Farmers: Cumbria

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the average farm income is for (a) hill farmers and (b) dairy farmers in Cumbria.

George Eustice: The estimated average Farm Business Income[1] in 2014/15 for a) hill farmers and b) dairy farmers in Cumbria, based on data from the Farm Business Survey[2], is shown in the table below:  Average Farm Business Income in Cumbria, 2014/15 Average Farm Business Income (£/farm)95% confidence interval (£/farm)Hill farms (Mainly SDA)14,400±10,100Dairy106,000±43,000Source: Farm Business Survey, England There is a small number of dairy farms that are also classified as hill farms and will therefore feature in both categories.  [1] For sole traders and partnerships, Farm Business Income represents the financial return to all unpaid labour (farmers and spouses, non-principal partners and directors and their spouses and family workers) and on all their capital invested in the farm business, including land and buildings. For corporate businesses it represents the financial return on the shareholders capital invested in the farm business.[2] The Farm Business Survey covers farms of at least 25,000 euros of Standard Output in England

Cats: Animal Breeding

Henry Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to ensure that those who breed and sell kittens where there is evidence of commercial trade do so under a pet vending licence; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice: Earlier this year, Defra consulted on proposals to update the laws on breeding and selling of pet animals. We are currently analysing the responses.

Department for Energy and Climate Change

EU Emissions Trading Scheme

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, with reference to the Answer of 14 April 2016 to Question 33419, what the next steps are and when she expects to come to a final position on the UK and French tiering proposal for Phase IV of the EU Emissions Trading System.

Andrea Leadsom: The Government supports the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) as a market-based approach to achieve least-cost decarbonisation and maintain a level playing field across the EU. Negotiations to reform and strengthen the EU ETS for the next phase of the system are still in the early stages. Following the joint UK-France proposals on tiering of EU ETS free allowances in February, officials have continued to discuss this in greater detail with counterparts in other Member States, as well as with members of the European Parliament, the European Commission and industry representatives. EU ETS negotiations are at an early stage and we expect to develop our thinking further over the coming months.

Water Power

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if her Department will maintain the 2014 commitment to ring-fence spending through the Contracts for Difference (CfD) for 100MW of marine energy in the UK and make the full 100MW available to developers during the 2016 CfD auction process.

Andrea Leadsom: Holding answer received on 23 May 2016



In July 2014 the Government announced a 100MW minimum for wave and tidal stream technologies, including capacity from both the Renewables Obligation and Contracts for Difference, to the end of the first Delivery Plan period in 2019. During the Budget on 16 March 2016, the Government announced the budget for CfD auctions this Parliament and that the Contract for Difference allocation round, planned to open later in 2016 will be available for projects with a Target Commissioning Window starting in the 2021/22 delivery year. We will be publishing further details in relation to the next allocation round, including on strike prices and whether there will be any minimum allocation later for wave and tidal stream technologies in due course.

Coal Fired Power Stations

Sir William Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what discussions she has had with (a) Ofgem and (b) the National Grid on steps to encourage coal plants to stay open.

Andrea Leadsom: Ministers and officials have regular discussions with Ofgem and National Grid on the outlook for generation including the relative profitability of coal and gas generation. DECC consulted National Grid and Ofgem when preparing proposals for an early capacity auction to ensure this would be deliverable and effective. This auction is technology neutral so open to all capacity providers but the prospect of success in this auction has been welcomed by coal plant operators who may otherwise have closed.

London Power Tunnels

Dr Paul Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the total length is of tunnels for each specific diameter being constructed by the London Power Tunnels Project; and what length of each such type of tunnel has been constructed to date.

Andrea Leadsom: National Grid has said that: The total length of the tunnels is 32km and tunnelling was completed in March 2015. 19.6km of the network was constructed using a 3m internal diameter tunnel boringmachineWillesden to St John’s Wood 3m diameter tunnel – 7.4kmWimbledon to Kensal Green 3m diameter tunnel – 12.2km. 12.4km of the network was built using a 4m internal diameter tunnel boring machine- St John’s Wood to Hackney 4m diameter tunnel.

London Power Tunnels

Dr Paul Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what recent estimate she has made of the cost to the National Grid of the London Power Tunnels project; and how much of that cost is related to (a) civil engineering, (b) electrical engineering and (c) equipment.

Andrea Leadsom: National Grid has said that the overall cost of the project is around £1bn and while it is always difficult to breakdown costs simply into different engineering elements, they have estimated the following: Tunnels and associated mechanical and electrical work 50%High voltage cable procurement, installation and testing 15%Substation works (including civil ground works at these locations) 26%Land and required permissions 9%  Ofgem is responsible for regulating National Grid, to ensure that the work they do represents value for money for consumers.

London Power Tunnels

Dr Paul Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, whether the London Power Tunnels Project is (a) on schedule for completion in 2018 and (b) within budget.

Andrea Leadsom: National Grid has said that:The London Power Tunnels Project is on schedule for completion in 2018 with all significant work completed in 2017 a year ahead of the original programme.The London Power Tunnels Project is currently within budget.

London Power Tunnels

Dr Paul Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the total gross expenditure on the London Power Tunnels Project is to date.

Andrea Leadsom: National Grid has said that as of 1 May 2016 total gross expenditure on the programme of works on the London Power Tunnels Project is approximately £780m. Ofgem is responsible for regulating National Grid to ensure that the work they do represents value for money for consumers.

Electricity Interconnectors

Sir William Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the expansion of new electricity interconnectors on (a) the capacity market auction price and (b) long-term investment in gas-fired electricity generation.

Andrea Leadsom: We are confident that the Capacity Market is the right tool to bring forward new capacity including gas as it is needed. The participation of interconnectors in the Capacity Auction is expected to increase competition among capacity providers in the auction helping to take clearing prices as low as possible for consumers. The security of supply contribution that interconnection makes is assessed annually, based on detailed market modelling to determine anticipated electricity flows from connected markets at times of GB system stress. The government published an impact assessment last year on the inclusion of interconnectors in the Capacity Market which is available here: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukia/2015/187/pdfs/ukia_20150187_en.pdf. Both new gas and new interconnectors are likely to be important parts of the long-term investment we need in new capacity to ensure energy supply.

Carbon Emissions

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she is taking to work with other departments to formulate the Government's response to the recommendation of the Energy and Climate Change Committee in its Fifth Report of Session 2015-16, on Setting the fifth carbon budget, HC 659, that effective drivers need to be put in place by Government to encourage innovation and investment for transport, buildings and agriculture.

Andrea Leadsom: We are currently working closely with other Government departments to determine the right approach to reducing emissions in the 2020s. We will publish the successor to 2011 Carbon Plan, in due course. The new plan will set out our policies and proposals for meeting the UK’s carbon budgets, and will cover all sectors of the economy, including transport, agriculture and buildings.

Electricity Generation

Sir William Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the National Grid's (a) Supplementary Balancing Reserve and (b) other Black Start  ancillary support contracts to coal plants on the capacity market auction price.

Andrea Leadsom: DECC does not have access to all the commercially confidential details of National Grid procurements such as ancillary support and Supplementary Balancing Reserve (SBR) contracts.

Electricity Interconnectors

Sir William Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what discussions she has had with (a) Big Six and (b) other combined cycle gas turbine generators on the potential effect of an expansion of electricity interconnectors on (i) the capacity market and (ii) long-term investment in gas-fired electricity generation.

Andrea Leadsom: Ministers and officials routinely meet with all stakeholders including the vertically integrated energy companies, independent generators and other capacity providers to discuss the energy market, their views on the Capacity Market and new interconnection as well as prospects for any planned investment in new gas power stations.

Fossil Fuelled Power Stations

Sir William Cash: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the effects of retention of Eggborough and Fiddler's Ferry coal plants on investment in new combined cycle gas turbine plants.

Andrea Leadsom: Security of supply is our top priority and we monitor all market developments closely. In the shorter term, extending the operation of existing plant can provide important capacity whilst new capacity is built. We are confident that the Capacity Market is the right mechanism to bring forward new capacity as older, less efficient plants close. Industry and investors made clear during our recent review their confidence in the Capacity Market. Our plan to buy more capacity and buy earlier will improve the chances of new capacity, particularly gas, clearing in future auctions.

Offshore Industry

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that (a) there is a strategy for decommissioning offshore oil and gas rigs around the UK and (b) that decommissioning work is carried out in UK yards.

Andrea Leadsom: Holding answer received on 23 May 2016



The UKCS Decommissioning Strategy has been prepared and will be published by the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) shortly. The OGA is working through the Decommissioning, Supply Chain and Exports, and Technology Boards to ensure that the UK industry is ready and capable to undertake and safely deliver decommissioning of the UKCS.

EU Emissions Trading Scheme

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

Amber Rudd: The EU has an effective carbon market in the form of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). Since 2005 the EU ETS has been the world’s largest emissions trading system, limiting greenhouse gas emissions in the power and heavy industrial sectors. The Government recognises that while the EU ETS works well in terms of process, an oversupply of allowances in the system means it is not delivering the degree of low carbon investment it should. This is why we strongly support structural changes to strengthen the EU ETS and are actively pressing for reforms in discussion with EU counterparts and other stakeholders.

Green Deal Scheme

Anna Turley: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what support her Department is providing to recipients of Green Deal funding whose vouchers expired before their home improvements were completed.

Andrea Leadsom: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave her on 26 May 2016, Question number 37787.

Solar Power: Feed-in Tariffs

Clive Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what her latest estimate is of the amount of solar PV that will be installed under the Feed-in Tariff scheme in 2016-17.

Andrea Leadsom: Detailed deployment projections (in terms of capacity and number of installations) for solar PV under the revised feed-in tariff scheme in 2016-17 are set out in Annex B of the impact assessment published alongside the FIT Review government response. This can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/486084/IA_-_FITs_consultation_response_with_Annexes_-_FINAL_SIGNED.pdf

Green Deal Scheme

Anna Turley: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what support her Department is providing to recipients of Green Deal funding who have had their home improvements interrupted because the contracting companies have ceased trading.

Andrea Leadsom: Under the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund (GDHIF), where applicants had their home improvements interrupted, they were free to engage another approved installer to undertake the work within the six month validity period of their voucher. The GDHIF scheme was designed to provide a financial incentive for work to be done at the applicant’s instigation. Installers were required to come from an approved list but applicants were responsible for engaging an installer. The same response applies where vouchers expired before home improvements were completed; the responsibility rests with the applicant to ensure works were completed before the voucher expired.

Carbon Emissions

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, when the National Emissions Target Board met to discuss setting the fifth carbon budget; and who attended those meetings of that board.

Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, how many times the National Emissions Target Board has met since April 2013.

Andrea Leadsom: Some of the governance arrangements related to carbon budgets were amended last year. The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster now chairs an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) on Clean Growth, which considers issues relating to air quality and decarbonisation, where these have a cross-departmental aspect. The group meets as and when required. Its members include ministers and officials from the relevant departments, including Defra, DECC, DfT, DCLG and BIS.

Renewable Energy: Storage

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what funding her Department has allocated to help develop clean energy storage.

Andrea Leadsom: Energy storage is one way to provide flexibility to the energy system and to help make best use of our low carbon electricity generation. DECC has provided more than £18m of innovation funding since 2012 for development and demonstration storage technologies; including funding for four storage technology demonstration projects. In the Budget 2016 announcement, the government confirmed that it would allocate at least £50 million to help innovation in energy storage, demand-side response (DSR) and other smart technologies over the next five years.

Energy: Manufacturing Industries

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle increases in energy costs for manufacturing companies in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) the rest of the UK.

Andrea Leadsom: The Government is ensuring the continued international competitiveness of energy intensive industries in Northern Ireland and across the United Kingdom by providing relief to mitigate the impact of energy and climate change policy on electricity bills. In addition to the £160 million of compensation already provided since 2013, Government began paying compensation to eligible companies for renewable energy policy costs earlier this year, following state aid clearance. Companies in Northern Ireland are eligible to apply for this compensation. A Great Britain-wide consultation on replacing this compensation with an exemption was launched on 1 April and the Northern Ireland Executive will consult separately on this in the future. We are also acting to reduce electricity costs at the most fundamental levels through both short-term cost control measures and investment in new energy infrastructure.

Energy: Prices

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps her Department is taking to make available to people without online access guidance on comparisons of energy prices among different energy providers.

Andrea Leadsom: Consumers without access to the internet can shop around to find a better deal for their energy by using a price comparison company, which is accredited to the Confidence Code operated by Ofgem and provides a free telephone price comparison service. In addition Citizen Advice offers advice and support on energy switching. The following companies offer such a service: Energyhelpline 0800 074 0745Moneysupermarket 0800 177 7087SimplySwitch 0800 011 1395UK Power.co.uk 0800 188 4906uSwitch 0800 051 5493Energylinx 0800 849 7077

Solar Power: Non-domestic Rates

Clive Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment she has made of the effect on the solar industry of the Valuation Office Agency's proposals to increase business rates for solar PV FIT and RO installations dating back to 2010.

Andrea Leadsom: Business rates are calculated based on a property’s ‘rateable value’. The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is responsible for determining the rateable values in line with existing legislation and case law. The VOA is currently consulting with the solar industry over how those rateable values will apply to solar installations from 1st April 2017.

Coal Fired Power Stations

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, which coal-fired power stations are either currently producing electricity or are on standby to do so if the need arises; and if she will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom: The following coal fired power stations currently retain Transmission Entry Capacity and are therefore capable of supplying electricity into the wholesale market when it is economic for them to do so: Aberthaw B, Cottam, Drax (units 1,4,5 & 6), Fiddler’s Ferry (units 1,2 & 3) Ratcliffe-on-Soar, Uskmouth, West Burton and Rugeley. The owner of Rugeley has announced its intention to close the station by the end of June 2016. Eggborough and Fiddler’s Ferry (unit 1) are currently part of National Grid’s Supplementary Balancing Reserve, and are capable of supplying electricity if the need arises.

National Grid

Mr David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what measures she is putting in place to minimise the number of Notifications of Inadequate System Margin issued by the National Grid; and if she will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom: A Notice of Inadequate System Margin is one of the tools National Grid use to maintain margins in the system and can happen at any time for a variety of reasons. Issuing a NISM does not mean that demand is about to outstrip supply: it is a notice to the market to bring forward further capacity. National Grid issue NISMs ahead of dispatching capacity from its supplementary balancing reserve, which will include 3.5GW of dispatchable generating capacity next winter. This will give any remaining capacity in the market first opportunity to respond but does not signal any significant risk of shortages. National Grid’s objective is to secure supplies and the NISM is an important tool to achieve that objective with minimum distortion to the market.

National Grid

Mr David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what the cost to the public purse was of the Notifications of Inadequate System Margin issued on 9 May 2016 by the National Grid; and if she will make a statement.

Andrea Leadsom: There was no cost to the public purse resulting from the Notice of Inadequate System Margin issued on 9 May.

Attorney General

Fraud: Crime Prevention

Glyn Davies: To ask the Attorney General, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of introducing a new criminal offence of failure to prevent economic crime on the number of prosecutions for such crimes.

Jeremy Wright: Under existing law, a company only faces criminal liability if prosecutors can prove a sufficiently senior person knew about the criminal conduct. It can be extremely hard to prove this, especially in large companies with complex management structures.A new failure to prevent offence could help prosecutors hold all companies to account for criminal conduct and bring some positive changes in corporate culture.

Prosecutions

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Attorney General, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the Government's ability to prosecute criminals who have left the UK.

Jeremy Wright: The Government's position is that the UK will be stronger, safer and better off remaining in a reformed EU.Through participation in the European Arrest Warrant, the UK is able to extradite foreign suspects and bring suspects back to the UK more quickly and economically. Since April 2011, it has enabled us to transfer around 5,500 suspects out of the UK and to bring back around 650 to face justice here.

Wales Office

Wales Office: Pay

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what the average hourly earnings were of his Department's (a) BME and (b) non-BME employees in (i) 2015 and (ii) 2016.

Guto Bebb: The Wales Office is not an employer in its own right and is subject to Ministry of Justice (MOJ) policies for pay purposes.

Ministry of Justice

Offenders: Employment

Karin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to increase employment opportunities for people (a) on community sentences and (b) released from prison.

Andrew Selous: Prisons should be places of hard work, rigorous education and high ambition, with incentives for prisoners to learn and for prison staff to prioritise education and work. Dame Sally Coates’ review of education in prisons published on 18 May sets out a clear blueprint for reform of education, with Governors given the tools to ensure education provision meets the needs of their prisoners Supporting offenders into meaningful employment is a vital aspect of the Government’s approach to rehabilitation. We already work with a wide range of employers in prison through One3One Solutions and engagement by prison Governors. We want Governors to do more and so we are putting the tools to drive this change in the hands of those at the frontline who best know what works. We are keen to increase the number of employers who can provide valuable vocational work for offenders while in prison and who are able to offer them support in preparation for release and employment opportunities following their release. I regularly meet businesses across the country including at a number of successful roadshows across the estate. New businesses are now coming on board as a consequence. The Employers Forum for Reducing Reoffending brings together employers willing to employ offenders and we are working with the Department for Work and Pensions to increase the involvement of more businesses. The Prime Minister has announced changes to recruitment practises across the civil service to ensure that people are considered on their merits and not on their criminal conviction and we want to encourage more employers to do the same. Our reforms to probation services mean that virtually all those sentenced to less than 12 months now receive support both in custody and on release. Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) were created as part of these reforms and manage low to medium risk offenders, including those serving community sentences. CRCs have been given the flexibility to do what they think works to reduce reoffending, which should increase opportunities for offenders to turn their lives around. Offenders serving community sentences can access services available in the community such as education and training courses; mental health provision and support to obtain employment and accommodation. Where an offender is subject to an unpaid work requirement, they have the opportunity to give back to their local community.

Legal Aid Scheme: Children and Young People

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) children under 18 years of age and (b) young people aged 18 to 24 received legal aid funding in each of the last seven years.

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) children under 18 years of age and (b) young people aged 18 to 24 received (i) social welfare, (ii) family, (iii) immigration, (iv) debt and (v) housing legal aid funding in each year since 2009-2010.

Mr Shailesh Vara: This information is due to be released as part of the pre-announced annual statistics bulletin for the LAA on the 30th June 2016.

Suspended Sentences

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the highest number of suspended sentences is that one person currently has without receiving a prison sentence in a (a) magistrates court and (b) Crown court.

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the highest number of suspended sentences is that one person has received before receiving a prison sentence in a (a) magistrates court and (b) Crown court.

Dominic Raab: Where the court imposes a custodial sentence of two years or less it may suspend the sentence, for up to two years, and also impose one or more community requirements. This is a decision for the independent judiciary. If the offender breaches a suspended sentence order, there is a statutory presumption that the custodial sentence will be given effect, unless it would be unjust to do so in view of all of the circumstances. Repeat offenders can expect to go straight to prison if they commit a serious offence. Offenders serving suspended custodial sentences, however, have a lower re-offending rate than offenders serving immediate, short custodial sentences. The highest number of suspended sentences received by one person who has not also received an immediate custodial sentence, as recorded on the Police National Computer (PNC) up to 31 December 2015, and the latest sentencing occasion being (a) in a magistrate’s court was 10 and (b) in the Crown Court was 6. The highest number of suspended sentences received by one person, as recorded on the PNC up to December 2015, before receiving an immediate custodial sentence in; (a) a magistrate’s court was 9 and (b) the Crown Court was 8.

Ministry of Justice: Food

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the annual budget is for food produced for his Department's offices; and what proportion of food produced for his Department was sourced from British producers in the last period for which figures are available.

Mike Penning: The Ministry of Justice does not set a budget for food served in its offices. Catering services are provided by private companies under contract to the Ministry of Justice and provided to staff without subsidy. Spending on food is determined by the contractor based on sales receipts from Ministry of Justice staff. The Ministry of Justice has worked with its current suppliers to align existing contracts with the requirements of the balanced scorecard. Details of the proportion of food produced for the Ministry of Justice that was sourced from British producers is not recorded centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. I refer the honourable member to the answer given to PQ 35065 on 29 April 2016 which provides relevant details about food procured for prisons.

Prison Sentences: Cannabis

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were serving prison sentences for offences related to cannabis in each of the last five years.

Andrew Selous: Prior to June 2015, information held centrally on prisoners serving sentences for drug related offences was not sufficiently detailed to identify offences relating to cannabis as opposed to other drugs. Providing data back to 2010 could therefore only be done at disproportionate cost. According to centrally held data, as at 30 June 2015 (latest available), there were 1,363 offenders in prison custody for cannabis related offences in England and Wales. This number includes all offenders who have had their offence categorised as a ‘drug offence’ and in which cannabis is explicitly stated in their offence description. This number does not include instances where cannabis may have been a contributing factor to the main offence committed. These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Court Orders

Mr David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many court orders have been issued following non-compliance with a child arrangement order in the latest period for which figures are available.

Caroline Dinenage: The Ministry of Justice publishes quarterly figures on the number of children involved in Public or Private law orders made in Family courts in England and Wales. Data for 2011 to 2015 can be found in Table 4 via the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/518299/tables-for-family-court-statistics-quarterly-q4-2015.xls

Bill of Rights

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with the Crown dependencies on the Government's plans to introduce a British Bill of Rights.

Dominic Raab: The government was elected with a mandate to reform the UK’s human rights framework. The Crown Dependencies are not part of the UK but are self-governing dependencies of the Crown. This means they have their own directly elected legislative assemblies, administrative, fiscal and legal systems and their own courts of law. Although the Bill of Rights will not apply to the Crown Dependencies we have undertaken to fully engage with them.

Cabinet Office

Mortality Rates

Ian Blackford: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the main reasons for recent changes in the death rate.

Mr Rob Wilson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



Referral Letter
(PDF Document, 64.32 KB)

Chernobyl

Paul Flynn: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment the Civil Contingencies Unit has made of levels of radioactive contamination in upland areas across the UK from radioactive fallout in May 1986 as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

Mr Oliver Letwin: The Civil Contingencies Secretariat does not make assessments of the current levels of radioactive contamination existing in upland areas across the UK. However, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) coordinates a report on radiological monitoring across the UK on behalf of Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Food Standards Scotland, Natural Resource Wales and Northern Ireland Environment Agency. This is reported annually in the report on Radioactivity in Food and the Environment (RIFE). The most recent report can be found at: http://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/rife-20.pdfBetween 1986 and 2012, the Food Standards Agency and its predecessors managed controls and routine monitoring of sheep in certain upland areas of the UK in order to protect food safety. Following a review of the evidence (which included an assessment of the levels of radio caesium in sheep within the restricted areas) and a 12-week public consultation, the Board of the Food Standards Agency agreed the lifting of the last of these controls with effect on 1 June 2012. See: http://www.food.gov.uk/science/research/radiologicalresearch/radiosurv/chernobyl



Attachment
(PDF Document, 7.42 MB)

Anti-corruption Summit

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Answer of 9 May 2016 to Question 36373, which overseas territories and Crown dependencies declined the invitation to attend the Anti-Corruption Summit on 12 May 2016.

Matthew Hancock: None.

UK Membership of EU: Referendums

Tim Loughton: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse has been of all advertising of the Government's position on the EU referendum on social media to date.

John Penrose: The Government published details of the cost of the producing, distributing and publicising its EU Referendum leaflet and associated website on 6th April 2016The total cost was £9.3 million, with the breakdown of these costs as follows:• production – £458,500• print and delivery to over 27 million homes across the UK in 2 waves – £5,947,436• digital promotion and website – £2,894,064

Zero Hours Contracts: Young People

Jeff Smith: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people under the age of 25 in (a) England, (b) Greater Manchester and (c) Manchester, Withington constituency are employed on zero-hours contracts.

Mr Rob Wilson: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



Referral Letter
(PDF Document, 303.58 KB)